Hong Kong (1/5): 25for25 - Final Results

My 25for25 Challenge ended a week ago, but I wanted to post up the results, and some of my thoughts, for all of you who were curious ...

As you'll recall, at the beginning of the challenge my stats were as follows:

Maximum single run: 2 minutes

Total run time: 7 minutes out of 25 total

The final run, while not my best run of the 25 days, was still a total improvement over where I started.  In fact, it was almost the opposite.  My final stats were as follows:

Maximum single run: 12 minutes

total run time: 21 minutes

On one of my runs (not the last one, but during the last week) I upped my total time to 35 minutes and ended up running 21 of them!  And in another run I ran a non-stop 12 minutes!

On the last run I managed to eek out 17 minutes of running over the course of 25 minutes, which is almost the opposite of the first day, where I walked for about 17 minutes of the total 25. 

All in all, I was happy to have finished the challenge.  I didn't meet the goal of 25 minutes of total running, but I did finish my goal of daily exercise.  Plus, even if I didn't make 25 minutes of running, 17 is a pretty good number to reach. I'm not disappointed in that at all.

After the challenge finished I took a week off.  I have another challenge that I'm starting on Monday, but I'll save that for another blog entry.

As a reward for finishing this challenge, to promote a healthy lifestyle and habits, and also as a birthday present for myself, I picked up the (much hyped up) Nike plus and new iPod Nano.  I'm looking forward to get those on the road for a try-out.

In the end, this challenge was all about taking action.  It wasn't so much the results that mattered, but what was most important was the fact that I was just doing something -- that I was taking action in a positive direction.  Goals are good for having something to aim for, but in the end it's the process of getting there that is really the most important.

Another thing I've come to realize with more clarity is that there are people in our lives that, even if they mean well and truly care about us, end up sabotaging our efforts for self-improvements more than they realize. 

I guess that's the reason why I post the main blog for my challenges in another area.  Those who are able to provide that type of support are there, helping me and encouraging me. 

And my other frends, who I still think are great people, but at the same time have come to realize that their character strengths lie in different areas, are still here.  I still want to share the results of my efforts with all of you, but I guess there are certain friends you share certain things with, and others you don't. 

That's nothing new, of course ... we all already know that. 

What I didn't realize as much before was that I had a choice about which friends I shared different aspects of my life with.  I think in the past I would offer whatever I had and then let the other person decide which they wanted to know about.  But now, I prefer making that decision myself. 

If they want more information or understanding about who I am, they know where to ask.

In any case, that was a bit of a tangent.  I will be posting up info on the next challenge soon, so you can keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime .. I hope everyone is enjoying 2008 so far.  And thanks again to everyone for the birthday wishes!