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I'm officially done with winter. Unfortunately, winter hasn't got the message and seems to be doubling down on the miserableness. I don't do well in the cold, so my main goal over the next four weeks is to fight the urge to hibernate. FEB & MARCH EVENTS Things start to kick up a gear this month. I have Maverick Race on the 24th, which is a 13km run along the South Downs (hills of the hilliest kind). Then at the beginning of March, I’ll be at Winter Nuts (cold of the coldiest kind) with The Hubs, @jonfirestar and @Jarric. I’m still not entirely sure why I signed up for this, given my dislike of all things cold. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, Jon posted a video on his challenge that sums up how horrid it is. RUN! No matter how shitty the weather is, not matter how cold. Just, run. 4 Runs a week 1 Technical-Trail Run - not incl Maverick Race CLIMB, JUMP......er...PUSH? BMF (British Military Fitness) once a week. No matter how shitty the weather is, not matter how cold....you get the idea Bouldering at least 3 times Push ups twice a week (on top of BMF push ups) GET UP! Get up with alarm. No snoozing! I want to start running in the morning again, but first I need to defeat the evil snooze button. So the first stage is to get up with the first alarm and not hit snooze. Once this habit is formed, I'll look at moving the alarm back 10 mins at a time until I'm at a point where I'm up early enough to do a decent length run. SIDE QUEST: UKULELE PRACTICE Practice ukulele twice a week Learn one song by the end of the challenge and post a video of me playing it I picked up my ukulele again after I gave up trying to learn a long time ago. I want to see it through this time and not just give up after learning a handful of chords. I'm setting the video challenge to make sure I keep up with practicing this time.

In 2016, I will bench press my bodyweight <period> Last challenge, I got some of my shit together so I can make progress on this. Goal 1, Bench... Use it: I'm gonna run a cycle of 5/3/1 with a bench, or bench assistance exercise every workout. I'll start with the deload week since I haven't lifted in like forever. Goal 2, Breakfast Burritos in the Blue Buick: I spend 45 min driving each way from work. Eating in the car will help me make time for the gym. So this goal is all about batch cooking and meal prep so I can save the time I have outside of work... especially car friendly food like sausage and eggs wrapped in tortillas. edit: I'm not kidding, I do in fact drive a Blue Buick, same color as this font even. Goal 3, Bendy reloaded: I slacked off at this last challenge. I need to stretch (edit) and practice one yoga pose on two of my breaks at work. And do an NF Yoga routine once a week. LUYL: Blog: Write a draft of my introductory blog post.

The title comes from my response when a co-worker asked me why I was trying to get into shape. Without really thinking about it I said, "Bears." Now I feel a responsibility to follow through on my answer, at least for my first challenge. So: Main Quest: Get into shape, in order to defeat bears (including both social and physical combat) Quest 1: Outrun a bear. I will settle for: run twice a week, including one timed 5k per. My co-worker has autism, and there's a 5k in his name each year. I'd like to get my time under 21:00. a: 12 runs b: 10 c: 8 Quest 2: Lift a bear. Depends on the species, I suppose. I will lift twice a week, the following four lifts: overhead press, bench press, squat, and deadlft. My goal is to increase my one rep maximum by 5% for each of these. I have stalled out in this area, and will be trying a periodic series to start gaining again. a: 5% b: 3% c: any gain at all. Quest 3: Outfight a bear. Starting slow here! My kicks are weak and I can scarcely get them above solar plexus height. I will practice my kicks twice a week, focusing on increasing my strength and flexibility. I'll focusing on front kick, side kick, roundhouse, and back kick. If I get fancy and throw in some others, that's awesome, but first things first. My goal is head height with each, with genuine force behind the kick. a: 12 practices b: 10 c: 8 Life quest: Meet some non-bear people. I want to use my twenty seconds to try out some schools around town, with actual other people in them. In all seriousness, this is the scariest part of the challenge for me. Like, I would have to consider it for some time if offered the choice between meeting new people and fighting a smallish bear. Taking my cue from BlackTezca's monk challenge, I will be trying out some schools in the next six weeks. My goals for this are modest--like I said, this part is way outside my comfort zone. a: 3 schools tried b: 2 c: 1 I'll be starting a battle log on the 7th. Cheers!

Bears In Eastern Kentucky I read in the news paper about the warning concerning bears and campers food in the Red River Gorge. I spent quite a bit of time hiking this past summer ans never really saw any bear sign. Have any of you guys noticed any bear tracks? Makes me kinda nervous to think about a bear in the same woods where I am. I'm not really as much in fear of the bears as I am stray dogs.