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Main Quest: To reach December 31, 2013 visually leaner (as measured by photographs), and capable of my 4 performance targets: - Do one chin up - Do 50 push-ups with good form - Complete a 6 minute WKC Kettlebell Pentathlon Long-cycle (Clean and Press) round at maximum reps (60) with an 18 kg bell. - Run a 4 minute kilometer (extended sprint) Challenge Goals: 1. Eat a paleo diet consistently with only one cheat item per week. If this is going out for wings with the guys, that means ONE pint of beer, and not "One night of binge drinking." Target is to be visually leaner, or to see some decrease in body measurements by the end of the challenge. 2. Do two push-up practice sessions per week. Target is to be able to do 20 push-ups by the end of the challenge. 3. Do one Long-Cycle practice session per week. Target is to be able to do the max. rep with my 14 kg bell by the end of the challenge. Goal Grading: F Achieved goal < 3 weeks out of 6. D Achieved goal 3 weeks out of 6. C Achieved goal 4 weeks out of 6. B Achieved goal 5 weeks out of 6. A- Achieved goal 5 weeks out of 6, and still made target. A Achieved goal 6 weeks out of 6, but did not reach target. A+ Achieved goal 6 weeks out of 6, and reached target. Life Quest: Take one tangible step in the direction of making my hobby (hand-spinning and weaving), into a viable business. (I've always pretty much figured this was impossible, so even one step in this direction is, uh, daring.) Motivation: My motivation might have a bit of a chip on it's shoulder, but then again, so do I. This year has been full of big plans, but no big wins. Starting most recent and moving back, I signed up for a Spartan Sprint in late June. Thanks to some genius lack-of-planning on my part, I stayed out drinking the night before, and ended up running this extremely hilly obstacle run while hung over in the 30-degree-celcius heat and humidity. I fell behind the group I was running with, and got separated. I also almost passed out twice, and had an asthma attack halfway up a hill. I consider myself lucky that there was a convenient patch of shade and a very nice EMS staffer nearby. Epic fail. I slogged across the finish line in just under 2 hours. For a 5k run. *facepalm* Decided to try my first Kettlebell Pentathlon in May. I hadn't been training with the Sport Kettlebell group, and KNEW that I needed to do a lot of technical work on my lifts before I could do it successfully. Procrastination hit, and I showed up increadibly under-prepared. Also: I was the only person who agreed to compete from the "Non-Sport" half of our gym. The only good news is that the event is structured to be beginner-friendly: I got to pick my own weights, and switch hands as often as I liked during each of the 5 lift sets, each lasting 6 minutes. I finished, but I kinda finished dead last. I also appear to be the lowest ranked competitor in the country... I'm too afraid to look at the international rankings. The first line in my motivation harkens back to years back when I took up running. An over-use injury put a stop to my long runs about two years back or so. I don't really run longer than 8km anymore, and when I do run, I tend to do it in my Vibrams. Long before that, I was out for a group training run when I noticed I was slowing up, and starting to lose my group. I was just having a bad day for performance. As people were beginning to pull away from me, I had the oddest thought, "Aww... crap. I am now officially that slow little gazelle at the back of the herd that the lions always get..." followed by, "Ah! Holy crap, lions!" It was not the best example of positive thinking, but it gave me a touch more motivation to catch up and finish the run. During a talk about mental imagery and sport performance, I mentioned this little mental image of mine. Apparently this hadn't been what the instructor had been expecting. And it became a bit of a running joke among the group I was training for the Vegas Half-Marathon with that year. I am the slowest gazelle. But I might need to cut myself some slack, a third of those runners qualified for Boston this year. So for this challenge, I've decided to take smaller bites, so to speak, and start building up some smaller wins. I've always been more gifted at strength training and sprinting than endurance events. So I'm planning to work on my strengths, and what I feel good doing.