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I give a more detailed backstory in the respawn thread which you can find here: Cliff notes: I and a couple of my friends go on hiking trips, mostly to US National Parks. After our first trip (8-9 years ago), my friend told me his goal of hiking Half Dome at Yosemite. I keep pushing him off due to difficulty of the hike and my obesity and history of knee, ankle, and back injuries. He wants to do the hike before he's 40, which is September 2025 so our next trip IS Yosemite if order to complete his goal I cannot push it off anymore. I want to do what I can to be able to successfully complete this hike. Photo of the cables during the last push of the hike (not my photo) My goals this challenge: Complete strength training twice per week. I have a program I am going to follow. The start-up plan consists of warm up, 3 rounds of AMRAP exercises in 30 seconds intervals, cool down. Complete 30min minimum on incline trainer 2x per week. (pre-COVID I was using the various Star Wars series on Disney + as the carrot to getting on the incline trainer- I will not watch them without being on the machine-so I will be continuing this as it made almost like I didn't notice I was exercising until I was sweaty, breathing harder, or my glutes/quads were getting sore). Bring lunch to work at least 2-3x per week. Ride the park and ride bus to work 3 times per week (unless working late shift as I wouldn’t be able to utilize the gym AND ride the bus back to my car) this will help save money for the trip instead of paying $5-14 each day for parking. I am considering 1:1 coaching for the 6month prior to the trip so want to start saving. Bring water bottle to work 2-3x per week I’ve keep forgetting to grab it and have to either go without water or buy a bottle which A) costs money and B ) is bad for the environment that I enjoy so much Rewards can help keep me motivated. My gym has a hot tub in the back of the locker room that I would previously utilize after each incline training session. Sadly it's under construction for the entire summer. BUT there also is a hydro massage available- of I complete both strength training workouts that week I will use the hydro massage. The third reward will be if I bring my water bottle AND ride the bus as stated in my goals I’ll put a sticker on my new water bottle. I think to keep myself interested in coming back to update progress, I'll be adding photos from previous trips. This challenge? 2013 Our first trip: New Zealand Photo at the airport, after a quick bathroom refresh. This was during a quick break when the sheep briefly turned around from running up the hill at us and we thought we were safe (but that was a lie the sheep dogs turned them back and we started running again). The friend that wants to do Half Dome was safely standing on top of a bench the rancher had placed at the top of his hill for hikers to rest, saw the sheep coming, chose not to warn us and watched cackling and taking pictures whilst we ran like we were in the wildebeest stampede scene of the Lion King. The rancher had quite the comical scene he happened upon once his four wheeler made it to the hill, seeing 3 foreigners standing on the bench, surrounded by the sheep he and his dogs had just herded up the hill. Many hikes in New Zealand went through pastures with little gates to open and shut behind you to be able to walk through the pastures as part of larger hikes.