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After a couple years of spinning in circles, I need to "respawn" again. I will focus on getting my diet in line, and now that the hot local summer is sliding away, I will spend more time walking and running outside. Mission: Run in the Cotton Row Run 10K in May 2017 in a better time than I did it the last time in 2012 (54:50). While I rebuild my running habit, in the short term I need to start eating to train. I read a blog post a few years ago that really stuck with me as a way to measure how well my diet was dialed in. It seems that author is not as active online any more, but the framework is still available in an archive: "Archevore Blog - Getting Started". (More of his thoughts on the paleo movement are found on the Psychology Today website HERE.) I plan to count points each day based on how "dialed in" I keep my diet. I plan to use the "80%" solution as taught by Mark Sisson, so if I slip a little one day I will not let it mess with my relentless forward progress. This is the daily point scale I intend to use, based on Kurt Harris's "Archevore - Getting Started" blog post linked above: 1. Get plenty of sleep and deal with any non-food addictions. Less than 7 hours of sleep, then no points for the day. That means controlling social media (especially before bed), probably one of my worst current non-food addictions. 2. Eliminate sugar and all caloric drinks. Drink water. No sodas, sports drinks, juices, or milk. Don't add sugar to your food or eat things made with sugar or high fructose corn syrup. 3. Eliminate gluten grains and wheat flour. No cake, cookies or pastries. No bread or pasta, whole grain or otherwise. This rule and rule #2 pretty much eliminate anything that comes in a box. 4. 2 or 3 meals a day is best. No snacking. 5. Exclusively whole foods from animals and vegetables. I have completely stopped running for the past six months while I was getting over Achilles tendon pain and avoiding heat exhaustion, so even though I finished a half marathon a couple years ago, I will be in a "Couch to 5K" mode for a little while. The daily point scale I will use for walking and running is simpler: 1. Walk/run one mile. 2. Walk/run two miles. 3. Walk/run three miles. My goal for the challenge is to get 21 points per week, more is better.