How are your resolutions/goals for 2010 working out? I don’t know about you but whenever I read yet another study about the benefits of exercise I feel virtuous. Until the long awaited “Candy and Diet Dr. Pepper are the fountain of youth” proclamation comes out, I have to cling to exercise and fairly healthy eating to get me to 100. When I’m 100 I am going to eat cupcakes all day long and not care if they make my butt fat. But for now, I’ll settle for one and do some running to keep my ticker going. Today’s Wall Street Journal was jam packed with info to validate my plan.

The Hidden Benefits of Exercise highlights research that shows that exercise lessens the impact of the common cold, incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, mortality and risk of recurrent breast cancer, risk of colon cancer, risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and can decrease depression as effectively as Prozac. And as many of us know, just doing the minimum amount of anything isn’t always enough. After studies of runners, there’s also evidence that this is the same of the recommended exercise guidelines of 30 minutes per day. Researcher Dr. Paul Williams found that the more miles runners put in, the greater their health benefits. Another interesting thing the studies showed was that as we age, runners need to add 1.4 miles a week to our mileage to fight off weight gain (that or reduce their cupcake consumption by 1.4 cupcakes per week – this is my theory).

The best way to ensure that you will get your workout done is to do it first thing in the day. I had an epiphany today about my status as a morning person. I always say “I’m not a morning person” but the truth is that I’m a begrudging morning person. I don’t jump out of bed and greet the morning, but I do get up early, by 6 a.m., and get a whole heck of a lot done in the mornings, including exercise. Exercise has to be one of those things you don’t “try to fit in” it has to be a blocked out part of your day. It has to be fairly non-negotiable. Then you have your evenings free to watch stuff like Conveyor Belt of Love.

Now as of tomorrow, you’re all morning people. Get to exercising in the a.m.! Here’s a morning song for your running mix.

Raise your hand if you had laudable goals to run over the Christmas holiday even if it was snowy and cold and then realized – HEY it’s snowy and COLD and then didn’t run for two weeks. Can you see my hand way up in the air?  Let’s be honest people, it’s hard to run in a blizzard. And a break is good for you once in a while, as long as you get back on track. Just like that time in a race when I tripped over the orange safety cones; get right back up on your feet, laugh at your clumsiness, and keep on running.

After our day of travel yesterday I got a nice night’s sleep and was ready to run this morning. It was 7 degrees when we left Omaha yesterday morning and so the 40 degrees we had here this morning seemed positively balmy. I like to ease back into my running routine so I did an easy 3 miles and it felt great and I’m ready to run again tomorrow. I’m also ready to work on my 2010 goals.

I’ve got some race goals in mind but one thing I’ve always been bad about is incorporating a little strength training into my routine. I want some more muscle tone in my arms and abs (ok ANY muscle tone in my abs if you must know), and I want to find something I can do at home so I’ll be more likely to stick with it. To help me plan out my goals, I’m using my brand spanking new fitbook that my friend Joanna gave me.

So, who has a favorite at home strength training exercise I should do? Please remember that I tripped over a safety cone so my coordination is a little wonky. I need easy and not likely to end up with a broken bone type exercises!

Since 2009 is drawing to a close, here’s a New Year’s song for your holiday run mix.

As much as I like to run and know that it’s good for me, sometimes, like this past week, it seems as though the fates conspire against me. We’ve had illness all around, parties, houseguest, holiday shopping, and getting ready to go visit grandma for two weeks. This is a good time to step back and instead of beating myself up about the miles I didn’t run I try and focus on the days I did get to run. Sometimes you just need to give yourself permission to take a little break or do a little less. Just resolve to get in an extra run when you get an unanticipated break or if you can’t squeeze in a run, do something else like chase your kid around the park.

I’m also thinking about my 2010 plans. I like to use the upcoming New Year as an opportunity to set some new goals. The goal setting is also a way to ensure that if I slide toward the end of the year in my running routine I know my 2010 will start out on a good foot, so to speak! So far I’m thinking for 2010:

• Run the Chicago Marathon
• Keep track of every mile I run in 2010
• Do at least one triathlon

How do you stay on course as the year winds down? What are your goals for 2010?

Yesterday a friend was going to the Nutcracker with her four year old and I was thinking that I can’t wait until my little girl is old enough to go. I love the Nutcracker, hard to believe that when it premiered it was not quite embraced, a critic said “For dancers there is rather little in it, for art absolutely nothing, and for the artistic fate of our ballet, one more step downward.” I’ll take the Nutcracker over Dora the Explorer any day. Here’s a little bit of the Nutcracker for your holiday run mix.