Finance and Fat

Some people seem to love lending and borrowing money on Prosper.com. The only problem is, a lot of people don’t get around to paying back the money they borrowed.

I like to follow Fred 93’s blog to get a good look at what is happening with bad loans at Prosper. The most recent post tells us that Prosper is finally filing lawsuits against some of the borrowers who aren’t paying back their loans.

Prosper.com - the lawsuits begin

The good news is that legal action is finally happening.  We’ve waited a long long time for this, and its good to finally see some serious action against deadbeats who have stiffed us.  Prosper’s collection activity up to this point has consisted of phone calls, with the recently added modern technological innovation of a letter asking deadbeats to repay.

The bad news is that the legal test project is very small, and is moving at a snail’s pace.  Lets review the schedule, so you can see what I mean.

Second problem is that Prosper is only suing 66 nonpaying borrowers in this project.  They think of it as a test.  If it goes well, maybe they’ll do more someday.  Today there are 1187 more Prosper loans that are more than 4 months past due (not counting the 66 in this test).  These loans are on a fast track to nowheresville.  If Prosper follows its standard procedure, these 1187 loans will be auctioned off for pennies on the dollar.  This could happen to the majority of them within days.

If you use Prosper, be sure to read the whole post for more informative details.

This highlights nicely one reason I never wanted to risk my money with Prosper- It’s far too easy for borrowers to simply not pay back their loans and there is almost nothing Prosper can do about it.

My question for anyone lending money on Prosper or considering it- why would you want to get involved in such a mess when you have proven investments available such as stocks and bonds?

That isn’t a typo, I need to train just to prepare to begin ‘official’ marathon training. Yesterday I started day 1 of a 10 week plan with a goal of jogging for 30 minutes straight at the end.The plan for week 1 is 3 days of walking, for 30 minutes, at a pace of 17-20 minutes per mile. My wife and I have been walking for 30 minutes somewhat regularly, but we weren’t focused on the pace before. That made a huge difference as we walked the same distance we had been walking previously in 30 minutes versus the old pace of about 35 minutes. Doing that in 30 minutes made for a much better workout. We went 1.54 miles in 30 minutes, keeping us just under the upper limit of 20 minutes per mile. About half of our walk is uphill so that helps to add a little challenge to the walk as well.

I am following the Preliminary Training Program from The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer. The plan can be found on page 9. This plan is intended for those of us who aren’t running at all right now and really have a long way to go just to begin ‘normal’ marathon training. Here is what life is going to be like for the next 10 weeks:

• Week 1 - Moderate walking pace (17-20 min./mile), 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 2 - Moderate walking pace (17-20 min./mile), 4 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 3 - Fast walking pace (13-16 min./mile), 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 4 - Fast walking pace (13-16 min./mile), 4 days, 45 minutes per day
• Week 5 - Jog 5 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat 2 times, 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 6 - Jog 10 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat once, 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 7 - Jog 15 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat once, 4 days, 40 minutes per day
• Week 8 - Jog 20 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat once, 4 days, 50 minutes per day
• Week 9 - Jog 25 minutes, walk 5 minutes, 4 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 10 - Jog 30 minutes, 4 days, 30 minutes per day

It’s a long road to marathon day on December 7th, and we really couldn’t have started too soon. I will likely sign up for a smaller event (such as a 10K run) after this 10 week training plan in order to stay active before starting the real marathon training, which will go for 16 weeks prior to the marathon. I’ll be back with more updates as I work on this crazy plan.

New format this week- I’m adding a review of my previous week’s diet and exercise. My weight is still going in the wrong direction, but at least I did some exercise last week.

Current weight: 248.8 pounds

Weight lost since starting the blog: -17.2 pounds

Progress since starting with the new scale: -5.2 pounds, -1.1% body fat, -0.7 BMI

Last week’s diet: I did pretty well Monday through Friday, eating lots of vegetables, a few protein drinks, and nothing really bad. However, things changed drastically on the weekend- I really pigged out, eating way too much food and the wrong kinds of food. It wouldn’t surprise me if I gained a pound just on the weekend alone. This has been the pattern for several weeks now and I really need to change my habits and not ruin the progress I make during the week with out of control weekends.

Last week’s exercise: My wife and I went for a walk on Tuesday- about 35 minutes and 1.5 miles. On Friday I walked/jogged on the treadmill and did an upper body weightlifting workout. This was the first time I lifted weights for quite some time (months probably) and while I was very sore for several days after I’m really glad I did it and I’m looking forward to more weight lifting this week. Two days of exercise is better than the zero days of the previous week, but it’s still not enough. Fortunately, marathon training starts this week so I should be doing much better.

*Note about this weight loss chart. When I started this blog I weighed 266 pounds and I was only tracking my pounds lost each week. On November 28, 2007 I started using a new scale that tracks body fat and more (the numbers you see above). I report the figures from that scale in these weekly posts and I still track my total pounds lost in the Weight Loss Goals section in the sidebar on my site.

I made up my mind, partially on a whim perhaps, only giving it a few hours of thought before sending an email to all of my friends and family announcing my intention, but it’s official and there is no going back now- I am going to run a marathon!

What is a marathon?

For those of you not familiar with the details, a marathon is a long distance run of 26.2 miles. The marathon I am entering goes on for a maximum of 6 hours (after 6 hours you will be picked up by a truck if you are still on the course). Given the time limit, it’s not like I can just plan on walking it and gutting it out. I’m going to have to run! So in the worst case scenario, I would need to average 4.3 miles per hour for the full 6 hours in order to finish. By the way, my goal is simply to finish- I am not going to worry about my time- I just need to make the finish line before they kick me off the course. 

So…that’s up to 6 hours of running. Today, I ran for 3 minutes straight. It doesn’t take much math to figure out there is a huge gap between where I’m at now and where I need to be. Fortunately, I have a little less than 8 months to prepare. By the way, running for 3 minutes is part of a training program I am following for the absolute beginner who is not already running regularly. I could do a little bit more if I tried, but honestly not much more.

Why run a marathon?

If you’ve followed this site at all since I launched, you know that I’m trying to get out of debt and lose weight. Making progress getting out of debt isn’t too bad- I would like it to go more quickly, but I can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel. Losing weight however, that has been much more challenging and I honestly do NOT see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve only lost about 20 pounds and my pace has basically come to a stop lately. I need to try something different! I think a marathon qualifies as something different- wouldn’t you agree?

This is a big, scary goal! I was instantly nervous and somewhat regretted sending out the email announcement to my friends and family. However, I received an amazing response of support and even got a few takers who want to run with me. I was really energized by that support and honestly there simply is no going back now- I have to do this.

This is a big goal, but it is achievable. Every year thousands of people run in, and successfully complete, marathons. Young people, old people, fat people, and fit people. It is entirely doable with proper preparation and planning. To that end, I have already read one book, have another sitting here at my desk, found some good web resources, and officially started my training this week.

Too early to declare success, but…

The coolest part about this plan so far is that I’m not focused on exercising for the sake of losing weight, but I want to exercise so I can successfully perform at this event. That creates a different mind set. I WANTED to work out today. That is not my normal attitude toward exercise. Up until now, it has been a battle to FORCE myself to exercise. I just didn’t have the motivation. Now I can focus on the end goal of finishing a marathon and let weight loss happen as a result of that, but losing weight is not the primary goal now.

The Event

I will be competing in the Tucson Marathon, which will be held on December 7th, 2008 at 7:30 AM.

This is my second public declaration of my intentions to complete this marathon (first was an email sent to friends and family). I am mostly anonymous on this blog (you really only know my first name and now where I live), but I still have a level of accountability here and some day I will likely reveal more about myself. Since that is the case, I must live up to my words and finish this. Stay tuned for more and wish me luck!

P.S.
Shout out to J.D. at Get Fit Slowly for putting the marathon idea back in my head. If he can do it, why can’t I? 

Normally we have have the taxes done in February, but we procrastinated badly this year- mostly because we knew we would have to pay some money. Fortunately, the amount owed turned out to be about half of what I had estimated with some rough calculations in my head.

Between State and Federal, we have to pay about $1,100. I was expecting about $2,000, so while it’s more than I would like to pay, it is a sort of pleasant surprise. I earned a lot more freelance money last year and I lowered my withholding from my regular employer to help pay off debt so it’s not a surprise that I owe money. I’m going to try to make better estimates this year and be a little more prepared, but I am also planning to keep my withholding low until the credit cards are paid off. I’d rather have those out of my life and have to scramble a bit at the end of the year to handle the tax bill.

So…if you are still waiting to file, you only have 6 more days so don’t wait too much longer! By the way, we use Turbo Tax to do our taxes. We have used it for at least 5 years or so. It gets the job done and helps to find some deductions that you would likely miss on your own. However, I am likely going to try using a tax professional next year. I want to see how good or bad a job we are doing with finding deductions and using Turbo Tax. I expect to do more and more freelance work as time goes on, so I think the cost for a tax professional will likely be well worth it. That being said, it’s hard to beat $20 for Turbo Tax (we had a rebate, I think it is closer to $40 now)!

If you have yet to file, be sure to check these helpful posts from the Personal Finance blog world for some last minute tips and tricks.

• Attention all tax procrastinators!
• Free filing for your economic stimulus check
• About paying estimated taxes

Best of luck to everyone with your taxes this year. If you had to pay like we did, at least you’ll be getting your money back soon thanks to those silly sub-prime lenders!