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So I actually made it through my first challenge and it feels great! I learned a lot and am ready to step it up a notch for my second challenge. My overall, long term goal is to avoid putting on weight now that I'm a student again. Being in school is such an easy excuse to fall back on when it comes to getting take out, eating convenient junk foods and skipping workouts because the only thing on my mind when I get out of class is that I have so much studying and homework to do that I couldn't possibly find time to dice up some carrots or go for a jog. Assignments, midterms and finals become overwhelming so quickly, but staying healthy (via clean eating and exercise) is a tried and true way of staying healthy, energized and powering through some of life's biggest obstacles (ex. writing a complete environmental audit report, or studying for water quality, chemistry and hydrology midterms that all happen to fall on the same week). Not to mention (even though so many of us have) the dark and cold weather that has crept up on us up in the North (another excuse already, I know). I must say, I was lucky enough that a lot of my larger due dates were during the 2 week break. I feel a touch guilty taking most of that time off to get ahead in school. This in the long run will give me more time this upcoming challenge to focus on my goals even more and it will help to prevent stress when more due dates and finals start to happen. #1 Fitness goal: 20 push ups in a row. This will be a PR for me, over the years of my on again off again fitness I think I've made it to 16 or 17 solid push ups, at the moment I would have to say (after my 2 weeks off) I'm probably around a solid 6 - 8. In the next 6 weeks I hope to work on building my upper body strength to easily pump out 20 solid pushups in row, no sweat...... well maybe/definitely some sweat. #2 Fitness goal: Get my 5km (treadmill) speed back to 30 minutes. This might be the hardest of my 3 goals, and you haven't even read my 3rd one yet which is also going to be tough, but I'm labeling this one to be my most difficult. I have access to a gym, but it's not the most convenient and I must say, I'm not a fan of the cold icy snowy weather. Getting my speed and endurance back will mean either making time to actually go to the gym or pull out my long-johns and double up my mittens to do some winter jogging. My last jog was approximately 3 to 4 weeks ago. My time was 34 minutes and it was outdoors with a few shallow hills. In 6 weeks while working on my upper body strength, I will also do my best to not skip leg day, this should make this goal difficult but still very attainable. #3 Life goal: Cutting back on alcohol!! Last challenge I cut back on caffeine, only two mugs maximum per day. Very few days I was over, most of the time I was under at only 1 mug. That habit has stuck and I'm proud of myself for cutting back. One thing that tends to increase as a student (for myself at least) is the drinking, there are a lot of times when the class gets together to socialize and have drinks and play board games or go out after exams or after big assignments get completed. My goal will be to consume alcohol only once a week. This means that I can either have a glass of two of wine during a movie before bed on a Tuesday, OR I can go out and get a little crazy on a Saturday, NOT both! and DEFINITELY NOT Friday's and Saturday's. This is going to be tough since the semester will finish just before the end of this challenge, and my friends and family are all very social drinkers. I'm looking forward to this goal because I know it will help to keep my head clear and my energy levels up. It will also make it soo much easier to avoid hangover foods and larger then planned volumes of coffee. I feel that these goals will be challenging and mentally difficult at times, but they are also scaled so that they are still attainable when school starts to get tough. If I make these goals as important as my school work (I mean school is still very important but so are extracurricular life improving goals), there's no way that I wont be able to blow this challenge out of the water..... or, well, out of the snowbank? considering the weather out. May you all be successful in the goals that you've set for yourselves, Cheers...(with my bottle of water)