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My other big batch favorite is chicken soup with rice. I had no idea how easy it was until I tried this recipe off Epicurious like a month ago. So tasty! Might have to do that this week.

This week's progress thus far Scout Class: Runs 3/3 (+) Monk Class: Sign up for martial arts lessons 1/1 [in weeks 2-4 this will become Attend class x/2] Basic Skills/Nutrition: Homemade meals 1/3 (+) Life: Blog post 2/2 Challenge Progress This Week: 7/9 Overall: 7/39 Did a big batch of spaghetti from scratch yesterday. Did a one-hour run today. Felt pretty good. I must be re-adapting to running because my pace on today's run was better than my pace for the 30-minute run I did exactly a week ago. Also realizing that it's incredibly pitiful that I've only made one meal at home all week. :/ Frozen pizza doesn't count.

This week's progress thus far Scout Class: Runs 2/3 (+) Monk Class: Sign up for martial arts lessons 1/1 [in weeks 2-4 this will become Attend class x/2] Basic Skills/Nutrition: Homemade meals 0/3 Life: Blog post 2/2 (+) Challenge Progress This Week: 5/9 Overall: 5/39 Posted a blog and went for a run. I left my 4+ year old Garmin at home to try out RunKeeper and really liked it! It got my GPS coordinates almost immediately; the Garmin can take up to 5 minutes. I also wore my Vibram FiveFingers. I've had them since last February, but it's taken me a while to work up to comfortably running in them. Only one blister this time. And it leaves really hilarious "barefoot" footprints in the snow. Happy 2011 everyone!

I admire both your tenacity for working out in a cast and for attempting to post despite cats. What kind of pull-up bar do you have?

Thanks! I had planned to anyway, the challenge just happened at a good time.

Got to represent at the local events! There's a half in Reno in the spring, which is nice (I've done the 10K version), and a half in Tahoe in the fall, which I've heard is pretty brutal. I was supposed to do the Tahoe one but wussed out. :/ My "commute" takes all of 10 minutes, goes by a creek and a pond, and only has one major street-crossing annoyance. I've even stopped by Starbucks for iced coffee a few times, and figured out how to neither spill the coffee or my face all over the pavement. I kind of lucked out with my current home-work situation. A scooter, though, would be totally sweet!

Hey guys! The iPhone app RunKeeper Pro is free through the month of January. It's a good alternative to a GPS device and has some other cool features, like letting people track your live progress while you run races and stuff.

This week's progress thus far Scout Class: Runs 1/3 Monk Class: Sign up for martial arts lessons 1/1 [in weeks 2-4 this will become Attend class x/2] Basic Skills/Nutrition: Homemade meals 0/3 Life: Blog post 1/2 Challenge Progress This Week: 3/9 Overall: 3/39 Today I posted on my blog and signed up for kung fu. And omg guys, I'm kind of freaking out here! I did kung fu almost exactly 10 years ago. I was really into it, I was in the leadership program and taught kids' after-school programs and everything. But it's been 10. Freaking. Years ... and sifu gave me my purple sash back! O_o I told him I didn't think I deserved it, but he said I had earned it, and it would come back to me pretty quickly. Augh! I was so excited. And now I'm just nervous. Classes start next week. Here's a Chinese Lion Dancing photo from 2001, when I was graduating from high school. I'm the only girl in the lineup, right of the drummer (who is the sifu).

Thanks! I love riding my bike... but I'm afraid to start "cycling" because I want to think of it as fun, not work. I've noticed a lot of distance runners start to gravitate towards tris. Though I'd like to learn how to swim properly (Full Immersion or something), I think right now I'm happy keeping my biking to fair-weather commuting and neighborhood jaunts. Right now I'm super intimidated by the full marathon. But I really liked the half, even though I didn't properly prepare for it. I think the half might end up being a great race distance for me -- it's tough, but doable, and the training is more manageable. Where are you doing your half? We hardly ever get snow, let alone snow that sticks to the ground for longer than an hour or two. So today's run was kind of novel and interesting.

This week's progress thus far Scout Class: Runs 1/3 Monk Class: Sign up for martial arts lessons 0/1 [in weeks 2-4 this will become Attend class x/2] Basic Skills/Nutrition: Homemade meals 0/3 Life: Blog post 0/2 Challenge Progress This Week: 1/9 Overall: 1/39 The marathon training plan I'm using is the Run Coach Pro app for iPhone. Today I was supposed to do 50 minutes as follows: 20 minutes easy1-minute intervals x5 (I did run/walk intervals rather than easy/pace because I haven't been running much lately)10 minutes easy...and then another 10 minutes easy, since 20 + (5x2) + 10 != 50.Anyway, I did 3.75 miles in 50 minutes. I'm ok with that because I don't want to be fast, I just want to finish. It was pretty fun. I like intervals, and I even like running in the snow, but holy bejeebus, it sucked when the wind picked up! PS, wind-driven snow plus fleece ends up looking like this:

PS, play that t-shirt off, keyboard cat!

Do I post here to join? I'm training for my first marathon, so I figure Scouts is where it's at. From current suggestions, I like Crazy Legs. Other ideas: All Ur Legs Are Belong To Us lolscouts Blister Buddies Runnerds Knights Who Say Knee Spartan Striders Run Geek Run Traversers of Terror Distance Dogs

If you can't do a full unassisted pull-up yet, the best way are reverse pull-ups. You jump to the full up position, hold that for at least 30 seconds, then sloooooooowly let yourself down. Try to do like 6 reps of that at a time (or until your arms give out, lol). You can also find a bar that's between 2-4 feet off the ground and position yourself under it, like a backwards plank position, and do pullups that way. That lets you use your legs to assist.

Yeah, Big Sur is usually rated one of the top 10 marathons in the world due to the scenery. My half was in Monterey, and organized by the same folks, and it was beautiful AND fun (tons of live entertainment along the course, etc.), so I am really looking forward to May 1. Even though it's going to hurt like hell. And Avatar's the entire reason we have Netflix, lol. Best series ever. I can't bring myself to watch the M. Night Shamalama-ding-dong version, though... such awful reviews!

I ran my first half in November, actually! Prior to that I mostly ran however far I could go in 20-50 minutes, which is like 2-4 miles. (I'm slow and train incredibly inconsistently.) But, for the past three years I've done the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey, which is a relay race with teams of 12 runners that does a 170+ mile loop over the course of about 24 hours. Each runner does three legs of the relay, and the legs vary between 3 and 8 miles. It's crazy fun -- you get to run in the middle of the night through South Lake Tahoe, drink bloody marys at sunrise in an old ghost town called Virginia City, and the other teams are hilarious. You always get at least one brewery team and a few teams that run in costumes. I have to admit that running 13 miles spread out over the course of a day is way easier than running it all at once, though. That damn half nearly killed me! And I technically should have started the marathon training two weeks ago rather than last Sunday... oops...

+1 for DDR. I wore my HRM while playing it at home once. I burn about the same number of calories per hour on Difficult as I do running. I love the hula hooping idea. Other stuff that I think is fun is sprinting barefoot through the grass -- really, try it, it makes me giggle -- and jumping rope. Except I always end up hitting myself with the rope, so that doesn't last very long. I would love to learn some nifty jumprope tricks!

Hey there, I'm an on-and-off reader of Nerd Fitness, but this challenge sounded like SO MUCH FUN. XD So here I am! Fitness/Diet Goals Scout: Run 3x a week. I'm training for my first marathon, the Big Sur Marathon, on May 1.Monk: Sign up for martial arts and start going to classes at least 2x a week. I did kung fu, like, 10 years ago and really miss it... especially after watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender marathon that was on TV the week before Christmas. I've been considering going again for months, and last week I decided that damnit, I'm just going to do it already.Basic Skills: Bring lunch to work or make dinner at home 3x a week. I'm awful with eating prefab or fast food!Levelling Up Your Life Goal Life: Blog 2x a week. I started a blog a few months ago and let it go in Nov/Dec due to work deadlines. Back to the blogosphere!Base Class: Scout (sub job: Monk... yes I play FFXI) Race: Human (Average build, if on the chubby/wussy side) Age: 28 I'm not aiming for weight loss at the moment because marathon training generally makes women GAIN weight. The name of the game right now is proficiency. My goals, both the marathon and martial arts, are more about long-term commitment to big achievements, since I seem to have trouble sticking with personal goals. After the marathon in May, I'm going to switch gears to strength training and fat burning. Stalking My name is Elaine and I'm a web developer. Hello! Twitter: @elainevdw Blog: handfulofhealth.com DailyMile: dailymile.com/people/elainevdw