My new training goal is ...

extreme hottness.

No, really.

Okay, stop laughing!! I'm serious :)

Here's the deal: I was reading John Berardi's blog the other day and came across a post discussing a physique competition he'd recently attended. His big revelation? That there exist 47-year-old women he would totally hit on!

(Earth to you, Dr. Berardi, hon: if you were to try it you would learn that there exist 47-year-old women who would not give you the time of day, not with that dumb soul patch thing you've got going on. Really, do you even know how stupid that looks on a man your age? Someday you are going to look back at photos of yourself and be so embarrassed.)

As a 47-year-old woman myself I naturally took umbrage. It's time for a paradigm shift, people! This idea that a 47-year-old-female is no longer worth looking at needs to be relegated to the dustbin of history. With regular, vigorous exercise and a good diet we can look great as our daughters. We may not all choose to make the effort, but it IS a choice.

And I'm out to prove it. For the next 8 weeks I'm on a one-woman mission to find out just how good a menopausal woman of average genetic gifts can look without the aid of surgery, airbrushing, or ingestion of anything other than clean foods, protein powder and vitamins. (I do however reserve the right to slap on a coat of self-tanner when the mood takes me.)

More on this later.