27 Things To Do Before 27

It was just over a year ago that I started okAWESOME. I had just turned 25 and my life needed to change. At first it was hard to write down and share my thoughts. However, it didn’t take long to break out of my shell and feel comfortable sharing my experiences on this blog.

My intention for this blog has been the same since day one, to chronicle my journey from fat to fit. One of the things that I did early on was to make a sort of bucket list. I say “sort of” because looking back at it, it really wasn’t much of a bucket list.

So, I’ve created a new list. The focus of this new list is to do the 27 things on the list before I turn 27. That gives me 350 days, as of this posting, until my next birthday to complete the list.

Without further ado and in no particular order here is my 27 Things To Do Before 27 list:

1. Run a 10k without stopping
2. Beat my time of 1:24:20 for a 10k (my time for the 2010 Underwear Affair, my first 10k)
3. Run a total of 100 miles
4. Hike the Chief and the Grouse Grind
5. Complete the Grouse Grind in less than 1 hour
6. Get another tattoo
7. Go skydiving
8. Bike a Century (100 miles in one day)
9. Host a dinner party with the menu being comprised only of recipes from Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite
10. Compete in and finish a triathlon
11. Read one novel a month (any suggestions?)
12. Create a healthy meal plan that doesn’t include any processed food
13. Go on a blind date
14. Learn how to ice skate properly
15. Ride in a hot air balloon
16. Solve a Rubik’s Cube
17. Become an Adobe Certified Expert
18. Bench press my own weight
19. Wear a superhero costume
20. Eat dinner at Lumière
21. Become a Big Brother
22. Take an awesome self portrait
23. Go paintballing
24. Make a cookbook of my favourite recipes
25. Watch a movie in a drive-in theatre
26. Go bungee jumping again, but jump forwards instead of backwards
27. Reach my goal weight

Wednesday Weigh-In: July 21st

I know, I know, I’m late on this again. I think I might have to move Weigh-In Wednesdays to a day when I’m not so busy. Good idea?

Pardon the blurry picture but there you go, a 0.6 pound loss. I still have to lose the birthday weight. It’s only a temporary stop in the 280′s. I won’t be here long.

On a side note, I will be taking a small break from blogging. I will be back on Sunday. Don’t worry though, I will still be around the interwebs on Twitter, come say hi, @RickisAWESOME.

Wednesday Weigh-In: July 14th

Well, I definitely indulged too much during my birthday weekend. +4.6 pounds this week. I will be spending a little more time at the gym to lose the birthday gain.

*Note: I know I’m posting this a little late, but I did take the picture Wednesday morning.

Birthday Weekend Recap Part 2: My First 10k

Here is the blog post you have been waiting for, My First 10k. And, if you haven’t already, check out Part 1: Ricky Turns 26.

Saturday was filled with nerves and cake. While I was excited that it was my birthday, I was really nervous about the race later that day.

There were two reasons that I wanted to run The Underwear Affair. The first is that this race raises money for a good cause. A big Thank You to all the amazing people who sponsored me. The total donation was $414. That’s $114 more than my goal.

The second reason is that I got to dress up. While I didn’t run in my underwear, I still had a theme to my costume.

As you can see, my theme was Team Canada. The main focus of the costume was a Roberto Luongo uniform T-shirt from the 2010 Olympics. I’m a hockey fanatic, what can I say?

There were so many great costumes there that day. There were a lot of people wearing underwear and lingerie.There was a group of guys dressed as Na’avi from Avatar (they painted their entire bodies blue), Superman, Batman and Robin, and even a guy wearing the swimsuit from the Borat movie. I will have to step up my game for next years costume.

About five minutes before the race, I made my way to the start line. Just as the race started I began to feel more excited and less nervous. With one short walking break, I ran the entire first kilometre almost non-stop. It was a good start.

It was definitely much harder than I expected, but I just kept going. It was very hot and very sunny that day. I’m glad that I was wearing a hat. And here I am running past Science World.

Just as I was passing Science World, I saw my brother and his family. While cheering me on, they had this sign for me.

I didn’t care how many people passed me, and there were a lot that did. All I could think about was crossing the finish line.

There were a lot of people that stopped and watched the runners as they passed and a lot of people showed their support with high fives and cheers. As I passed by this one restaurant with a patio, there was a guy that yelled to me “C’mon big guy, you’re doing great”. That felt really good to hear a stranger cheer me on.

Coming to the last stretch, I remember seeing a ton of people at the finish line, two of which were my Mom and Step-Dad. I wanted to finish strong and I kicked it into high gear. About a minute before I got to the finish line my leg started to cramp. Great timing leg. I didn’t have much further to go, so I kept on going.

My official time for the race was 1:24:20 and I placed 549 out of 557.

“I finished the race!” was all that was going through my head. Even though I didn’t run the whole thing and had to take many walking breaks, all that mattered was that I finished. A year ago I never would have thought that this was even possible.

This was such a great experience that I signed up for next years 10k. However, next year, I will run the whole 10k and I will do it in less than 1 hour.