Profile: Kelvin Thompson

I'm excited to be joining the ucfcdl5k team this year!

I'm particularly thrilled that this event is giving rise to a "living well" movement within CDL, and I'm all about people setting goals for themselves to live more healthily.

Here's a quick story. In the summer of 2004 after thinking about it for quite some time, I finally decided to start "eating right and exercising." I couldn't take looking in the mirror anymore and being confronted with the 30+ pounds I'd accumulated over the preceding nine years. So, after picking up Jorge Cruise's 8 Minutes in the Morning (which always took me closer to 20 minutes thank you very much!), I started a journey of monitoring and managing my food intake and getting regular exercise for the first time in my life. (A few short months later I had dropped the 30 pounds and found myself the healthiest I had ever been.)

Nearly six years later, I still log my food intake daily to keep it in bounds (for the most part), and I log my exercise too. Sometimes I go through dry spells where I get a little bit off track in eating or in not exercising, but I have to confront my log and eventually decide to get back on track again. It's a lifestyle, not a diet or a resolution!

In talking to other folks on their own journeys over the years, I've concluded that when it comes to "living well," you have to set small, attainable goals that you're willing to stick with. Everyone's different, and you have to find what clicks for you. In my case, I was able to get my head around 8 Minutes in the Morning, and then when I met my goal with that program, I just kept going and eventually learned to incorporate other ideas/methods into my own program; which brings us to running...

I'm not a runner, but I've been running off and on since late May 2008 when Kitzzy convinced me to try the Couch to 5k program. I have since created my own "interval" jogging/running music soundtrack with voice over cues (similar to this one) and just use this to get about 40 minutes of cardio. (I'll share it if you want, but I have eclectic tastes in music!)

After doing that for awhile, I took the plunge and actually ran a couple of 5k races (just for fun, to benefit worthy charities, and to get a "free" t-shirt).

I'm looking forward to running with friends and colleagues (and my wife!) during the corporate 5k and think that it will be a great season for emphasizing healthy living for everyone.

As far as my current goals, I just looked at my exercise log while writing this post and realized that I haven't run during 2010 at all!

Ok, true confession, my entire exercise regimen is off! (Last logged exercise was on December 28, 2009!) Yikes! :-(

I'm going to try to use this prep for the corporate 5k to kick-start myself back to exercising regularly. Period. I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, I've been trying to tweet helpful resources for living well (physically, spiritually, relationally, and emotionally) as I find them at http://twitter.com/kthompso using the #livingwell hashtag (if you're into that sort of thing).