"The best shape of my life!"

So, my main goal this year has been functional physical fitness. I wanted to get into "the best shape of my life," and I've been defining that as beating my PRs at every distance I've run and also at several feats of strength: push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups.

The story of my running PRs is found on my blog:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/tappae/view/operation-burn-up-the-track-452094

The strength story is a little shorter.

I had never really tested max push-ups before last year, but had never done more than 25 or so. Last year, I got up into the 40s. This year, I went through the "100 push-ups" plan a couple of times and managed 57 earlier this month.

Pull-ups have always been a struggle for me. I couldn't do a single one for most of life, both as a youth and then again as an out-of-shape adult. Three years ago I managed 1 chin-up and couldn't do another one for a whole week. I worked at them off and on until I could do 10 and then I switched to pull-ups. I did 11 consecutive pull-ups earlier this month. I really had hoped to do 12, since I managed 11 one time back in high school. So it's a tie, but I'm calling it a win since I'm over 20 pounds heavier now than I was then. Today, I did 13 chin-ups, which is my most ever.

I stopped doing sit-ups and crunches regularly when I realized that I was working my abs plenty with the push-ups and pull-ups but I still managed to improve on my self-administered fitness tests. Beating my high school record of 63 in one minute was a big ask since it was something I was pretty good at then, but I just managed it earlier this month with 65.

So, I'm 35 and I'm in the best shape of my life! I'm not about to rest on my laurels, though. Next year will be even better!