Jarric

They are a hell of a lot of chaotic fun

Well done on a good week, glad you're getting your groove back.

Damn, I forgot how suspect that carpenter was. Love the cliff hanger ending to that post

Looks like you're doing great to me, particularly with how busy work is.

Hey @Raxie, how's the challenge going?

That's a lovely picture of Oz. I'm sorry for your loss.

Hey don't blame me, D&D's a hell of a drug

Glad it's not just me then! Summer Nuts is the first weekend of September, so I'm hoping it should be able to go ahead as scheduled. If things are still being cancelled by then we're in real trouble. No, WW's been furloughed. I think her boss is still doing some funeral flowers from home, but it's hard to get anything as a huge amount of flowers you buy over here are grown in the Netherlands.

Yesterday was a good day. My morning workout was: • Wall facing handstands - 5 x 15 seconds with overhead stretches in between. • Pullups - 3 x 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (so 45 total reps) - did these EMOM • Hangboarding - 4 sets • Hip physio exercises • Couch stretch for 10 minutes I was tempted to add more stuff, but it was a long session and I was feeling a little tired so I decided to try and listen to my body. Work was busy, but ok. After work we went to the supermarket, which wasn't too bad. They've marked out a one way system now which stressed me out a bit as I couldn't take my normal route around the shop, and as people were annoyingly ignoring system. Not that I'm neurotic or anything . We managed to get everything except flour though. We even got eggs! (Not good eggs, but you know what they say about beggars and choosers.) In the evening I wrote my running plan for the next 22 weeks, to take me up to Summer Nuts. Totally counting that as my alive time for the day. Hip physio and teeth were done before bed, calories easily within range at 2,268/2,410, so all good.

No worries man, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Always happy to help you getting into DMing too, and there's lots of great DMs on the forums you can speak to too.

Sunday was a good day. In the morning I ran 5 miles (8km), with 10 x 110yd (100m) sprints spread throughout it. It felt pretty good. When I got back I did a quick Roxanne workout (to the song by Sting and The Police) and attempted some pistol squats. My quads and hip were pretty uncomfortable with that, so I cut them off early. The I got to run my Ranger D&D game! Our cast were: Vutha, the lizardfolk ranger played by @DarK_RaideR. With no understanding of complex human emotions, Vutha thinks only of preparing for the next season, and of cutting off goblin ears and fingers to keep as tasty (and convenient!) snacks. The name Vutha is draconic for black, due to his black scales. Dragtald, the goblin monk played by @Mr_Willes. Independent, looking to make his fortune, and very keen on dwarven ale, Dragtald is a truly impressive fighter with quarterstaff and teeth. He also has an awesome top hat. Rowan, the half-elf paladin played by @Rhovaniel. With flawless elven features, this paladin adventures in service of her deity, Torm - god of duty, loyalty, and protection. Pheelie, the genasi sorcerer played by WW. A former sailor with the sense of humour of a navvy, Pheelie can destroy her foes in bursts of celestial fire. Tilean, the tiefling wizard played by @jonfirestar. Dark, mysterious, and more than a little ruthless, Tilean is adventuring for her own reasons and looking for some quick coin. Xan, the half-elf bard played by @Charlie_Quinn. Master poet and musician, by his own admission, Xan likes the finer things in life and courts the attentions of the finest ladies he can find. After an hour of technical difficulties we got to the start of the adventure, and it was awesome to play with these guys. Not too much to say yet as we were introducing characters and the story, but I'm really looking forward to running a game for these guys next Sunday! Stats for Week 1 Hip physio - 7/7 - boom! Teeth - 6/7 - all good apart from an honest mistake on Saturday, which I'm anxious not to repeat Exercise - 6/7 - all good, but missed a point due to failing the goal below Calories - 6/7 - went over on Saturday, thanks to not counting calories as I went and adding my beers after I'd drunk them all. Average calories for the week were 2,620, so pretty bang on for my goal of 2,650. Weight was unchanged from last week, but I'm not going to worry about that unless it stays that way for a few weeks more. Alive time - 6/7 - all good, but missed a point due to failing the goal below.

Thank you! It's actually pretty easy to draw, just takes a lot of time to put together! I don't think so; a miss is a miss. It's ok, I made a mistake, and I'll learn not to do it next time.

I am very much up for this! And drinking games feel very piratey too.

Don't be so hard on yourself, you met your goal, and you should be pleased with that. There's a reason you planned this goal the way you did, because it's a sensible approach and you're in it for the long game, so celebrate when things go to plan. Try not to worry about it. There's nothing you can do about it right now, so worrying won't do you any favours. And if it does happen you'll adapt, adjust your goals, and Ranger on.

Good to have you hear as always

So one challenge update, and then a page and a half of discussion about beer. Yeah, that seems about right. This week has been really busy. Work is starting to ramp up for me, and on top of that all of my free time where I've not been playing D&D has been spent prepping for the D&D game I ran today. All good stuff, but I'm looking forward to a quieter week next week. Tuesday I worked out first thing, worked, and then played our Mummy's Mask D&D game in the evening. Nothing too remarkable happened in that; it's a fun little dungeon crawl and we're just starting our last dungeon, having discovered that another adventuring party is out to stop us getting to this site for some reason. Wednesday I ran 6 miles in the morning, including 2 x 2 mile tempo intervals. It felt ok, and it was a lovely day to get out and clear my head. I spent the evening checking people's character sheets and helping with character creation for the game I'm running. Thursday I worked out in the morning, and played D&D in the evening. Spoilers for Rise of the Runelords: Friday I worked out in the morning, and I filmed a bit of this one: In the evening finished my challenge tracker for this challenge: Saturday, having said that I was going for 100% I immediately fucked it up. I forgot to brush my teeth in the morning, and by the time I get back from my long run it was no longer morning. The run itself was good, 15 miles in beautiful sunshine. It felt a bit tougher than it has in previous weeks, and there was quite a bit of walking at the end. It was only when I got back that I realised that I hadn't had any caffeine all day, which probably explains the headache I ended up with as well as the lack of energy! After lunch I spent the day sorting out Roll20 for my D&D game today, and helping WW with last bits on her character. Today has been pretty cool, what with finally running my Ranger D&D game, but as this is already a mammoth post I'll leave that to talk about tomorrow!

Done, did the Roxanne workout (to the song Roxanne by Sting and the Police, do a burpee every time they say "Roxanne" and a tuck jump every time they say "red light". It gets really interesting at the end . I also attempted some pistol squats.

Oh that sounds like an amazing trip, when did you do that? I wouldn't say wine. There's a huge range of Dutch and Belgian beer though, unlike a lot of countries, so almost anything is true of some of their beers.

Glad to see you back challenging, looks like you've got a sound plan for getting back into things.

Ah, but the Belgians also make some fantastic dark beer. @Mr_Willes will back me up on this I'm sure. Yeah, all beers have their place. A craft lager on a hot day is no bad thing either. ...well you're not wrong.

This week for endurance I'm going to add an extra workout session after my short run on Sunday. It'll be one of the optional workouts posted by my Crossfit gym on Facebook, will have to wait and see what they put up before I decide which.

I found I had to go through quite a lot of different tracks before I found someone who didn't annoy me, either by their accent, their tone of voice, or what they were actually saying. There might be some stuff out there you would enjoy listening to, though I can't say if it's worth the effort of finding out! That sounds amazing!

well spotted! I'm sorry, I've got to agree with Tank and Rurik on this one... Absolutely! Fully with you two on this.

Thank you! And I know, I really should put a bit more time into D&D That gif is glorious by the way. I'm glad! I'm not ashamed to admit the WW and I sing along to that every time it comes on. I don't think I've tried that one, what's it like? I actually would have no idea what huckleberry tastes like, not sure if we get it here. I know, right?! Would like to hear your review. Yeah, we have a weird problem here where there's been tons of ale in pubs all of a sudden, but it's all IPAs. It can be pretty hard to find a dark beer in most places.

Yesterday was a good day, and it was day one of this challenge. Work was really busy - I shouldn't really be surprised as it's the end of the financial year but it's been so quiet up until yesterday afternoon. Anyway, I ended up finishing late, WW cooked a lovely chicken, leek and mushroom pie with a potato top, and we collapsed on the sofa in front of a D&D stream. I did manage to check some character sheets for the game I'm running on Sunday, and I started on my challenge tracker, so that fulfils the "something else" goal. Following the e-mail Steve sent round recently I'm changing the name of that goal to "Alive Time" (as opposed to dead time). I did my hip exercises late, but got to bed around half 10 still. Teeth were done, calories were easily under budget at 2,214/2,410, so 100% for day one. As I said, a good day! ===== This morning I got up a few minutes late but still started my workout by half 6. The workout was: Wall facing handstand holds - 5 x 15sec Pullups - 5 x 1, 2, 3, 4 Sprints - 8 x 75m The pullups were a great way to accumulate 50. I did them EMOM, so 20 minutes for 50 pullups isn't too intense, but not being too intense is how the programme is designed. The sprints were hard, and my left quads seized up on the final sprint, but otherwise a good (fairly long) workout. Work has been mega busy again today; think it'll quieten down over this course of this week though (fingers crossed). ===== Tonight I am playing D&D, tomorrow I'll be preparing for D&D, Thursday night is D&D, and then Friday and Saturday I'll prepare for D&D before running my D&D game on Sunday. Did I mention I also need to level up my character for our play by post D&D game? Are you sensing a theme here? Here's a hint: (Sidebar: I feel like @Tanktimus the Encourager would appreciate the retroness of this video, despite it being faux retro.) It does however make filling my time with rewarding things very very easy