Zul

Sorry this has taken me soo long to finally post back on... I've been a bit busy and keep meaning to get back and post... (I read the message digests for all of my subscribed threads and then think "Oh, I'll go post on there a bit later" and never do.) We're starting back over at week one, and I think that we're trying to do it until we actually do three in ~a week (which is a very rare occurrence). This weekend was fun, drove several hundred miles between going and judging a high school speech meet and then going up and seeing Lewis Black perform (Lots of jokes about how he could have been in LA accepting his Grammy, but instead was in Peoria performing...) As a result of the weather (mostly, although business certainly has played into it) we've only gone out and done one other run (Friday before we left town), so certainly not hitting those markers, but once it clears up a bit (as it promises to soon) that should become easier.

That does sound like a fun name (more of a motto really) for our team. Anyone else?

The thesis is coming... got my first interview done. That one was a pilot, so I did it all on it's own and tweaked the questions as I went to try to get the best results. With that out of the way, now I'm going to start scheduling them in parallel instead of just one at a time. Just finally got out and did another C25k run. This snow really put the damper on things this week (since we run outside), but we went out to the park today and just ran through the 4" that we got yesterday. It really wasn't nearly as bad as we had expected.

And no C25K today... Some good eats though. No further progress on that life goal either. I've got to spend tomorrow really going to town on that one. Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a run on Friday before we leave town for the weekend...

Oh, I hope that you get to feeling better. To be fair, I'm sure that in PA the weather is just as bad as here so you didn't miss much today, but snow days are nice when you can get some work done at home. That doesn't work out so well when you're in that condition.

Wow, I am totally jealous of the farm-fresh foods. I probably don't have the discipline to manage it myself, but I'd be happy to live close enough to take some off of your hands.

Well, the Snowpocalypsemageddon 2011 provided an unexpected snow day for my wife and myself. Luckily today was a C25K rest day anyway (although it remains to be seen how we're going to handle tomorrow). The upside to all of that snow was that my wife was home to make some tasty meals that otherwise would not have been had on a weekday. A delicious green lentil curry soup with a ham and swiss (Laughing Cow) on whole grain toast sandwich for lunch and salmon tagine with cinnamon and tomatoes, bulgur pilaf with red peppers, onions, and toasted pine nuts, and oven roasted brocolli. Mmm... a tasty day (and pretty healthy to boot).

Anyone have any thoughts? I mean, I guess that "Two" is OK, although I feel a bit like we're on the BBC when I think about it... We're all here, judging from our starter post, for our love of the C25K program. Anything fun based on that from what I am sure is a clever, clever bunch of folks? (Which I know is a total cop out on my part and a way for me to attempt flattery in the hope that you overlook the fact that I am not myself actually suggesting anything better.)

So far on target with the C25K. It was 20 degrees (F) out today with a windchill of 5. Thank God for that Under Armour (or at least Nike's knock-off version), it really keeps you, well not warm, but not frozen solid. Now to just start scheduling and doing those interviews...

I'm trying to get in shape for a 5k (we've got one picked out for April...) and hopefully some C25K can get that done for me in addition to some other efforts. Class: Scout, as we learned when we tried to get a 400m time on Saturday, I'm more of a distance running guy. Fitness Goals: - C25K - Starting on day one and doing it 3x/week without missing any. We've done this before, but our sporadic schedule (1x/week or even 1x/2weeks) meant that progression was very difficult. With the 5k date set we've really got to get this started and take it seriously this time. The cold (and now snow this week, ugh) may give us some trouble since we run outside at our apartment complex, but that's all part of the challenge I guess... - Take the stairs at school quickly and ignore the elevator. My office at school is on the fourth floor and there are certainly days after the half-mile from the parking lot when I just don't feel like it. IMO, one of the best ways to really get/stay in shape, though, is to integrate these kinds of habits into your daily routine, so I'm going to give this one a shot. - Continue to lose weight. This may not sound like much (especially considering that I've been losing some for almost a year now), but it's a lot easier when you are more overweight and is significantly slowing down as I approach the range of only 40-50 pounds overweight... I do not want to let this stagnate until I'm at or below what I would consider a reasonable weight (at least 200, really shooting for 185, and 165 would be nice, although I'd be happy to make allowances if any of that could be muscle instead of just fat...), and yet I've hung out at around 215 for a while now. I'm hoping that by sticking to my other goals and really trying to watch some of my less healthy eating habits I can make this work. Diet Goals: - Cut out the Culver's. Double Butterburger with cheese, no toppings, Onion Rings and a Sweet Tea. Terrible for you? Yes. Delicious? Yes, also. Does that outweigh the amount of terrible? Not by a long shot. This has been one of my favorite lunches to have when I'm out and about and can't have something at home. I think it's time to let it go and try for some healthier alternatives? Any suggestions? Life Goals: - Finish (well, and start, but that's why this is called a challenge, right?) data collection for my master's thesis. I've got a conference that I'm presenting at on March 1st... The middle of April is the deadline for having the thing written in order to graduate in May... I haven't even started doing the interviews, much less writing this thing. Today sounds like a good day to get rolling on that.

Name: Zul Brief overview of goals: - C25K - Take the stairs at school quickly and ignore the elevator - Cut out the Culver's (that grease-soaked burger is going to be the death of me) - Finish (well, and start, but that's why this is called a challenge, right?) data collection for my master's thesis Class: Scout If you follow a specific way of eating: I eat whatever my wife cooks, and she tends to do a pretty good job of making it healthy, but without a real overarching plan. Any other piece of information you think would be useful for team creation: Minyla, whose post should be a bit above mine here, is my wife. I'm not sure if that means we should be on the same, or different teams... If you want to be part of a team or if you want to work alone: One squad member, reporting for duty.

(and yes, I do realize that the thread title is only valid based on my current location and won't probably even be valid there by the time I finish this introductory post, but I think that we can all just agree to ignore that minor incongruence for the time being.) I'm new here (hence the intro) and was led to these boards by my wife who showed me the OMFG section (how she found this board is anyone's guess). My story is really pretty much inseparable from hers, since we spend pretty much all of our non-work/school/commuting time together. We were both ~285 last February (and at my 5'8" with little muscle that was not really an acceptable weight). We didn't consider nutrition much when we ate and we ate far too large of portions of the items that we did eat. We had really done no exercise for the years that we'd been together and it showed. February 2010 we decided to try to turn that around. She's a great cook and we've been trying to pay more attention to what (and how much) we eat. To that end we've been eating in more and trying to pay attention to the nutrition facts posted places when we eat out. Coupling that with some running (admittedly more sporadic than it ought to be) and tennis when the weather is good, and we've both lost over 70 pounds so far. We're both just trying to make that transition from schooling to real life and trying to be "real adults", so I appreciate the holistic approach of the OMFG game and the boards in general. As an avid gamer and nerd this board seems like a good home for me and hopefully the community here, in addition to the OMFG, can help to keep this going for us while we try to level up our lives. So, in sum, howdy NF board! I hope that this can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.