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I love deviantart. That picture has basically nothing to do with anything, but damned if I didn’t feel a need to share it. I searched for “Scrooge McDuck Jungle” and that’s what comes up. This challenge I want to set a tone for the rest of the year (as you do on New Year’s) and let you guys know why I’m setting my goals this year the way I am. I want to maintain 2 things (running and weight lifting) and improve 3 things (hobbies, finances, and bulking). Every challenge I’m going to set goals for those five things and rewards that improves them in the future. For this purpose I’ve chosen a spirit animal of sorts: Scrooge McDuck. Why? Maintain Lifting and Running – Scrooge McDuck is an avid health fanatic. People don’t seem to realize but the duck is literally swimming in gold coins daily. Swimming. In. Gold. Coins. He’s displacing dozens of pounds while doing cardio. There are vastly worse role models for strength training and cardio. Mileage and lifting may go up depending on my mood or down depending on if I’m coming up on a race. Two goals will appear in every single challenge: maintain running (30km per week), maintain weightlifting (3 days per week). Hobbies – Scrooge McDuck is a duck of many talents and a hobbiest extraordinaire. Take a look and you can find pictures and stories of him participating in almost any adventure or sport. And not like stumbling across him in a melee fight with the Predator (seriously, wtf deviantart?), but actual cannon activities. Auto racing, horseback riding, fencing, prospecting, hiking, camping, etc, etc, etc. Personally, I’m trying to focus on 2 things this year- making things and music. Yes, you make music, but I mean stuff as in things around the house like furniture or whatnot. Bonus points if I can earn a little money doing it. One goal per challenge minimum will be related to guitar or making. I might swap it out for something unique if something comes along that I want to try out. Finances - Swimming. In. Gold. Coins. Scrooge doesn’t just HAVE money, he goes through pained efforts to KEEP it just like his namesake. So minimum one goal per challenge will have the purpose of either saving money or making money. Bulking – OK… umm… Launchpad looks ripped? So this spirit animal thing isn’t perfect. The fact of the matter is after my first marathon attempt I found that I feel better, look better, and run better when I weight more and strength train. So I figure I’ll take this a few steps farther and try to get big and muscle-y. This means I’ll need to find a good bulking plan to follow and pay attention to my nutrition to make sure I build muscle more than squishy bits around my mid-section. I currently sit around 175 lbs and usual float down to 170 or so occasionally. I don’t want to give up running half marathon distances so I don’t expect I’ll rocket up to 210 or something but getting to the point where I’m at 185 or 190 would be neat. I’m kind of guessing at this since I’ve never gotten all that big and I have no clue what I’ll look like with more muscle on me. Ideally my build will be athletic but I’m not attempting anything insane like Arnold or something. I’m shooting for roughly “rugby player” build. Clearly well-muscled and athletic but also clearly drinking lots of beer. I have a spreadsheet for charting size progress. One goal minimum, I expect 2 goals per challenge (lifting and food) for bulking. All that being said: what about this challenge? Maintain running and weightlifting – 30k per week and 3 days minimum Finish the Batcave – Build deadlift platforms, muffle noise, arrange everything. I should also set up a practice space for guitar (music, headphones, guitar stand, etc). Prepare to negotiate salary at work – We have performance reviews in the next few weeks and will be notified of our pay increases for 2018. I intend to push for more cash or start looking for another job. Cancel the gym membership – If I have the batcave up and running I don’t need to give the Y my money. The home gym should pay for itself in a scant 4 months. Find/design a bulking program