It's Biggest Loser Tuesday, and I'm back. Been watching for about 5 minutes, and I've already cried twice. God I love this show. The season premiere is tonight. It's starting out cruelly - Bob, Ally and Jillian are traveling to several cities, and in each city three people have to compete for two spots on the show. The challenge is easy. The contestants have to do 500 step-ups. The first two people to hit 500 make it on the show, and the third person goes home. It's cruel. They all need the show. The crazy part is that there are about 100 people in the audience, and they're all fat, too. They're bringing out the issues early. I love that. You ain't fat because you eat a lot. You fat because of something going on in your life: the death of your brother, the death of your mom, your kid, your spouse, alcoholism, cruel words from a loved one, cancer, a cheating partner, your own life. What the hell is Bob wearing? Nice sailor hoodie and tight pants. New city, and now they're making the contestants run a mile to compete for the two spots. What a nightmare. I like Tina. She's 58 and 263 pounds. I hope she makes it on the show. Dredlock guy just fell on his face trying to keep Tina from passing him 20 yards from the finish line. That was sad. He's being carried off in an ambulance. Bob just said something I really like: "Your body wants to be healthy." Yeah, well, my body wants peanut butter cookies and sex. What do you think about that, Bob? I think Patrick just showed some ass crack. I didn't need to see that tonight. The old guy was the first to finish the mile in Atlanta, and I think he ran the whole damn way. Good on him. The 400-pounder finished second.

My 2010 personal challenge is on for 2011. My goal is to compete in at least one event per month for each month in 2011 beginning with the Houston Half-Marathon in January and the Austin Half in February. So that's what this blog is going to be about. For the next 15 months, I'll be writing about my 2011 experience. These goals probably sound familiar since I seem to remember writing the same thing this time last year. So here it goes again. I'll discuss my training and the events and the good and the bad and the really, really ugly. I've put together a schedule for 2011 which I'll post one day soon.

Time to finish up The Biggest Loser.

Today is the day of the Houston Half Marathon. I did not run it. Or walk it. Or watch it. My tailbone is still broken and painful. It's been five months. August 16 was the day I last rode my bike or did any meaningful exercise. The weather in Houston is gorgeous today. High 50s/low 60s and sunny. Although I live for hot, sunny humid days, even I have to admit that Houston is at its absolute loveliest on days like this. The weather is perfect for running or walking or riding a bike.

Since moving to Houston six years ago, I've been getting sinus infections 2-3 times per year. 2008 was the worst year. I think I had four of them. Last year was not as bad, I only had two infections. In 2008, my ENT recommended that I have my tonsils removed and deviated septum repaired. He said that removing the tonsils would prevent further infections and repairing my deviated septum would help me breathe better. I finally had the surgery last week. It sucked. Don't do it. At least, don't do both surgeries at the same time. You can't eat any dairy (meaning, NO ICE CREAM!!!) since dairy causes your mucous to thicken. And when your mucous thickens, you can't breathe out of your mouth. But you can't breathe out of your nose either because there are splints the size of no. 2 pencils shoved up there. So you end up choking all night long. Ugh. On the other hand, I lost 10 pounds since the surgery last Monday, so I'd call it a roaring success! The week off work has been nice, too. Anyway, we'll see how it is in a few months. If I don't get a sinus infection this year, it will have been worth it.