Superhero 5K is awesome! Go you!

I'm embracing the New Year's cliche and starting a no-sugar diet and a running program Jan 1. Which means going for a test run tomorrow. I I hope finding my heart rate monitor is not too hard...

Ooh, that sounds fun.

My main goal is to eventually stop stuffing my face at every turn. I guess that starts tomorrow.

Anne W.: jigsaw puzzles this is the site I use.

You can change the size of the pieces and even the direction to make it harder. It's Shockwave driven.

My other HUGE resolution is to stop comparing myself to other people. It's so damaging, you guys. I don't talk about it, because what kind of conversation is that? "Oh, hey, I was full of self-loathing today because my college roommate won an Emmy and I haven't won one." (That's true. Well, the Emmy part; not the self-loathing. She's in sports broadcasting, and it's SUPER COOL she won an Emmy. I have no self-loathing about it because, you know, that's not a field I'm in.)

But more generally applicable areas, like, "Oh, high school friend who's a doctor just bought a boat and an Escalade to pull it," or "Oh, friend who used to be the same size as me dropped 3 sizes and looks incredible now." That's where I compare myself (even if I don't actually WANT a boat), and it's super damaging. I don't want to do that.

That's not going to be an easy resolution, and I don't know how to break it into smaller doable pieces, which is the only way to really achieve it. Walking a 5K is *nothing* compared to that.

If it's any help, I totally compare people to Teppy and find them lacking.

"Doesn't look nearly as good in a Cherry Rockabilly Dress as Teppy."

"Doesn't look nearly as good in a Cherry Rockabilly Dress as Teppy."

So many don't. It's unfortunate for them, really.

Alas, that dress has long since ceased being a dress, because the seams on the bodice were wearing out. It is, however, still a killer skirt. But I've kind of overthrown cherries for my new main squeeze, polka dots. I can't stop buying polka-dotted things, especially dresses. Soon I will be a cartoon character.

There are many worse things to be!

As long as I'm not, say, Pepe Le Pew. He's got ISSUES.

I don't remember holidays wiping me out before the last couple of years. I need Geritol. Or to exercise more.

I used to have stamina. And muscles. My back muscles used to be like steel cables, man. Now they're like mush. Between the depression (I did not know how depressed I was. I was very depressed.) and the uncontrolled asthma and the desk job, I've become totally sedentary the last few years. It's had its effect on my health; I'm fairly sure most of my current health problems are due to lack of exercise, and I'm determined to fix that.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to walk a 5K in April.

That's awesome! (I'm not doing that. Not this year, anyway. My goals are far more modest. I want to be able to walk around the block without wheezing and without needing to collapse afterward.)

My other HUGE resolution is to stop comparing myself to other people.

Oh, yes. Me too. This is very hard.

The hardest thing for me, though, is comparing myself to the Me I used to be. I used to be slim and in good shape and, you know, young. It's really hard not to expect myself (at 51) to still be that person, with that same energy and that same hair and that same skin. I know I can be better than this, I can be in better health, but I don't know what "better" at this age, for me, is going to look or feel like, so I don't know, realistically, what I should expect. I'm just going to eat better and exercise more and see what happens, I guess.

As long as I'm not, say, Pepe Le Pew. He's got ISSUES.

Or Krazy Kat, a cat of indeterminate sex infatuated with a mouse who throws bricks at him/her.