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KICKIN’ IN THE BURN "So what's your plan here? Personally, I tend to go with what you know. 'Til something better turns up." --William Adama It’s time to go back to my NF roots. Kara “Starbuck†Thrace. I was late to the BSG bandwagon (and still haven’t finished the series, so no spoilers please) but fell immediately in love with Starbuck. Here is an amazingly strong woman, loyal to a fault, hard-working and full of grit, and determined to overcome the obstacles in front of her despite struggling with her own demons. What’s not to love and admire? I was especially convinced I needed to come back to my BSG themed beginnings when the following exchange occurred on my last challenge thread: Starpuck: I’ve been asked to join a men’s hockey team, I want to, I think, but I am kind of chicken. Shadowlion: Go for it! Starbuck would. So who’s ready to show up and kick a little ass? PRIORITY 1: EATING – Don’t become post New Caprica Lee! Cook Clean – 1x/week or more“Frak It†Meals – 1x/week or lessEat Clean – 80/20 or better *still need a way to track this PRIORITY 2: EXERCISE – Move it nugget! Target goal of logging 5 sessions total per week, broken down as follows:Strength Sessions – 2x/weekRuns – 1x/week+2 additional workouts of any type SIDE FITNESS GOAL: Go to the boxing gym 1x/week. Kara hits the bags, so should you. PRIORITY 3: BUDGET – Limited resources in space, don’t waste them! Track all purchases with Goodbudget App and cut back on spending as follows:Eating out Money $40 or less per weekFun Money $40 or less per weekPut $200 into savings each monthINCENTIVE PROGRAM: Eating out and fun money will be spent only with real, paper bills. Once the actual envelope is empty, the money is gone for the week. However! Left over money goes into my BSG inspired TOP GUN mug. This is my ‘buy yourself a tablet’ fund, and I will allow myself to make the purchase once I have 50% more than I need in the stein. SIDE LIFE GOAL: Purchase the piano book as suggested by ShadowLion and commit to looking at music or art hobbies at least 1x a week. Schedule Draft *with a note to learn how to be flexible if hiccups occur. And a little motivation to start the challenge off with! My all time, most favorite Starbuck video!

In the last 11 months, I’ve lost 7% body fat – I’ve gone from 165 pounds, 34.40% fat to 157 pounds, 27.69% fat. To finish up my first year of training (which happens to coincide with the end of this challenge), I’m going to get down to 25% body fat. Taking inspiration from my favorite lady viper pilot, Kara Starbuck Thrace, I’m going to do this by focusing on three key areas (and one life goal): 1. Nothing but the Rain – Assuming there’s a single hallway that runs the perimeter of the Battlestar Galactica, each lap that Starbuck runs is 2.45 miles (yes, I researched that). I’m going to run 20 Galacticas during this challenge – that’s 49 miles. It’s going to be rough, especially since it’s the middle of summer, but let’s face it – after months stuck on a battlestar, Kara Thrace would kill to go run in the heat and humidity. I’m not committing to all outdoor runs, but since I absolutely despise the treadmill, I have a feeling that’s where the majority of them will be. 2. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again- Science Fiction involves action. And action means people *almost* falling off buildings and bridges into fiery pits and dark abysses. But instead of hanging on for dear life, they could just do a pullup! I bought some pullup resistance bands for the bar on our squat rack in the basement, and following my mantra for this challenge, I’m aiming to do as many reps as I can, as many days as I can. I’m starting in the chin-up grip to give myself some advantage, then I’ll switch to a pullup grip once I can do a set of 3 chin ups. The original plan is to use both bands (15-50lbs resistance) for 10 days, then just the red band (10-35lbs) for 10 days, then just the yellow band (5-15lbs resistance) for 10 days, then I’ve got 12 more days to make the magic happen! If I seem to be making progress faster (or slower), I’ll adjust this plan accordingly. *This is not a pullup. This is, however, the look on my face when I do pullups. 3. Good Hunting – eat clean. I’m going to treat food as a mission. I’m fighting to get the cleanest, leanest food into my body as possible. I’m not going down without a fight! I don’t need definitions or rules, I know clean food when you see it. I’m going to grab as many vegetables and meats as I can, racking up “kills†with each meal I mercilessly destroy. 4. Bonus Life Goal – be your own CAG: I was going to aim for 1 thing each week that makes me happy, and 1 social event each week, but sometimes those two will fight against each other. So, I’m going to aim for 4 social events (double dates, meetups, pretty much anything), spaced however I want, plus one thing for myself each week. Lately I’ve wanted to paint my nails, but haven’t gotten around to sitting down and doing it. Time to appreciate the little things!

Kara Thrace: (sitting on her couch) You know, I never really liked this place anyway. Air conditioning doesn't work in the summer. Heater doesn't work in the winter. The rent's a crime...(lights a cigar)...After they attacked, I never pined over any of my old crap. Never missed it. Stupid view of the parking lot. Broken toilet in the bathroom...You know, everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had. I'm fighting because I don't know how to do anything else. So - no matter how you got to this challenge, no matter what you're trying to achieve - we're all fighting for something. So get your gloves on, get in the ring, and let's fight!

A few of us on the Rangers challenge board discussed coming up with a Starbuck-themed set of challenges for the next 6-week challenge. I wanted to start a thread with rough ideas and inspirational photos, so we could come up with a bunch of stuff together to pick and choose from. So far, some of them just have titles or pictures. I'm still trying to think of a good pullup related challenge, since I've noticed pullups seem to be fairly important for escaping aliens/bad guys in many sci-fi movies Feel free to add all sorts of stuff! Galacticas – Why measure your runs in miles when you can measure them in Galacticas? We first meet Starbuck, and get our first view of the Galactica – as she runs laps through the halls. Assuming there’s a hallway that runs the perimeter of the ship, one lap would be 2.45 miles (or 3.95 kilometers, for those of you on the other side of the pond) http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Galactica_type_battlestar Pushups – Get Angry 33 Minutes - something interval related (or something else) to how often the cylons appear? Pyramid – Get involved in a team sport Lift Heavy Things