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I somehow feel like this is a harder commitment to accept than the wedding vows I took 10 years ago, but what the heck...let's do this. I am 5'4'', 180 lbs, and almost in the worst shape of my life. I have 2 young children and started grad school last fall - which somehow turned our healthy family into a time-crunched-fast-food-eating-out-of-control clan. My ultimate goal is to get my family healthy again and run a 5K Mudman race in September. My accepted challenges for the next 6 weeks: 1. Run a mile without walking. I know, this doesn't seem like a hard challenge, but it's something I haven't done in 5 years, so it's a big enough challenge for me! 2. Do a pull-up. One stinkin pull-up. I have never been able to do a pull up, even when in the best shape of my life. This must be done before I die. 3. Family "Yoda"... We have recently tried doing yoga as a family and the kids love it. My 2 year old keeps asking to do "Yoda" so I would like to get us all to enjoy at least 20 minutes of family yoga 5 times a week. 4. No drive thru's!! Starting today, we will not eat anywhere who's main kitchen equiptment is the deep fryer. By the end of six weeks, we will also be completely free of processed foods. 5. My life goal is to chill out. No more "Mommy Dearest" episodes when the bathroom is dirty. No more "flare gun" Breakfast Club moments when grad school is not going as planned. I will accomplish this by taking my kids outside to blow bubbles whenever I feel anxious about anything. I want to be an in-the-moment mom who finds the joy with her children, not constantly looking for it for them. 6. Okay, I know 6 is a lot, but this last one is imperative. We will get our lazy rear ends back outside. My husband and I met as backpacking guides and will come full circle by having a family backpacking trip planned and ready to go before the end of these six weeks. We will accomplish this by turning our nightly Jammer-Walkeys (usually short walks with the kids in their jammies before bed) into mini-backpacking sessions. There it is. Let's ride.

Kiwi’s 4th challenge: Kiwi hits the road. Looks like life is going to be busy and I’m once again off to find gold in obscure parts of the world! Also I want to get back into road running (beep beep) as I’m heading far far away from my beloved beach, so that means that this kiwi is hitting the road. This is going to be interesting as I will not have complete control on the things I usually do (food and time to exercise), so this is going to be a good challenging challenge. Goals #1: Scout Quest STA 2 DEX 2 3 runs a week (total 18) on sealed roads, working on building my road running back up and not irritating old injuries. Usual kiwi grading system. Aim is to complete 3 runs (even if small) as need to build up slowly. #2 Abs Quest STR 4 There is a competition at the gym at the moment for prone holds, I’m currently in 4th spot after a 5 min 30 sec hold (the leader is on 12 mins!) but this got me thinking, I want to be able to do an 8 min prone hold. So A=8mins+ B=7.5+ C=7+ etc #3 Food Quest CON 3 Track track track! Yip it’s writing down everything time. Not sure how much control I will have over my food on the road but if I report on it, I will feel accountable and not eat crap if it is available. So that’s 42 days of food tracking goodness. Going to be a bit generous on the grading since I’m not sure on my Internet access. A= 35+ days logged B= 30-34 C=25-29 etc. Note – I have no intention of tracking calories or anything like that, Im going to try and stay as Paleo as possible as loving the progress I made here last challenge. #4 Level up: Stop procrastinating! WIS 1 CHA 3 Um not quite sure how to attack this, and make it an achievable goal (will think of that later – kidding!) um I guess somehow making a prioritised to do list and rate myself each week on if I achieved things but more importantly if I put things off and if I did fun things (like running) over important things. Could really used some help here on making this goal better and gradable. Perhaps something to do with achieving a number of goals off my bonus extras list. Bonus Extras Complete as many of the following (some of these come under goal 4 for things I have been putting off!) · Work 2 hours a week on my novel (aim: 12 hours total) · Work 2 hours a week on my thesis (aim: 12 hours total) · Continue Stronglifts program 3 x week until I depart NZ and loose gym access · Submit work invoices every 2 weeks · Sort my work visa out · Do my physio for ITB each week – including rolling it out if have access to foam roller. · Make my bed everyday · Take a multi-vitamin everyday · Pay total $3000 off debt · Dress nicely once a week · Eat enough protein Here goes! Also randomly yesterday I felt like a change and went from light blonde hair to very dark red! hehehe its strange everyone is doing double takes - and most people are shaking their heads at me going - what have you done?!?

OK challenge number 3 - here we go! In order to do my job well, and because I have up coming National champs for IRB racing in March I’m on a mission to find some me some gold (see what I did there te he he). So in order to do well I need to be strong and in prime condition, so I have the following goals: 1) Muscle Quest STR 5 Continuation of last challenge, which didn’t really work so keen to master this and make getting to the gym 3 times a week a good habit. My friend is going to help me with a 5x5 weights workout which is going to be fun, also Im going to count hard IRB training sessions with this as lifting and moving a heavy boat is hard muscle work. Grade – part grade lost for every missed workout. 2) Scout Quest STA 4 DEX 1 Continuation of last challenge - barefoot beach running. Loved this so much last time I’m upping to 3 runs a week aim! Grade – part grade lost every missed run. I managed a B last time (I think) so pretty keen to get an A this time. Also planning to include some sprints once a week. 3) Diet Quest CON 2 I have really not been taking care of my diet lately and since Abs are made in the kitchen and I would quite like to find mine again I’m going back to more paleo/lower carb eating. I will remove one food a week from my current diet (already gluten and corn free). Grade each week based on how successful I am at eliminating the item (eg A= never ate, B= ate <5 times etc). 4) Organization Quest WIS 3 I need to spend a few hours a week sorting myself out, and with Tax time coming up I plan on spending 2 hours a week sorting my income taxes out. Grading – reduce full grade for each 30 min missed. Yuck yuck this will suck but feel so good once taxes sorted. Bonus Extras! Surf IRB Champs nationals – EEEKKKKKK so excitedI am due to drop down to 1/4 dose of my meds (running is my new happy juice) –should be meds free on next challenge which is super exciting!I plan on sending a letter a week to someone I haven’t caught up with in a while, snail mail makes me happy.I will achieve something master thesis related each week.Starting Stats LEVEL 2 Wood Elf Scout STR 4.6 DEX 2.8 STA 4.9 CON 3.0 WIS 3 CHA 4.2 Height 161cm Weight 52 kg Chest 86 cm Waist 68.5cm Waist Breathing in 63.5 cm Muffin top 79.5 cm Hips 93.5 cm Right Thigh 52.5 cm