Nice Kim! Ok – my turn to ante up. I have to admit, i entirely loved your challenge and it encouraged me to work out even more often than usual. There is nothing better than a personal challenge to fire you up each day!

Goal
——
Running – 42 km
Strength Training – 15 hours
Core Exercises – 300 minutes

Pledge (Breast Cancer)
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$20 plus $5 for each Km, hour or 20 min missed

Result
———
Running – 52 km (124% of goal)
Strength Training – 26 hours (173% of goal)
Core Exercises – 330 minutes (110% of goal)

Overall I managed to achieve 136% of my original goal! My longest run was only 5k, but I ran 17k each in my 2 best weeks and 180 min of core last week to ensure I met my goal! Which leaves me with my original pledge of $20. But since I am so pumped, and so excited, I am going to pledge another $30, making a total donation of $50

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all plan to make the Solstice Challenge a part of your fitness life for 2013!

~Barry

OK, I’m not sure which part of the video inspires me most – punching slabs of meat, getting punched in the gut, running down the RR tracks with bricks, or those clever push ups (which of course I already do them like that, so whatever). My goals weren’t too impressive having just come off knee surgery, but I did my PT twice a day MOST days, walked around the block with the dog MOSTLY 3X/week, and did do my 1000 sit ups. I started with $20 in the pot, went up to about $28.50 and rounded it up to $30. I donated to a high poverty school in California that was raising money to get sheep hearts for the kids to dissect. They needed around $100 more, and after I donated 2 more people did, and they met their goal! I got this letter back (form letter or not) in return:
Dear Hilary Rives,
I cannot thank you enough for funding my sheep heart dissection project!For the first time, the school I am currently teaching at will be able to use their dissection equipment that has sat idly in a storage room for years due to lack of funding. When we go back into session after winter break, I will immediately notify my students that dissection will be a reality. They will be very excited! We are completing our genetics unit now and will soon be learning about the human body. After we learn about the heart, we will conduct our dissection. Thank you so much for giving my students the opportunity to have hands- on instruction.
With gratitude,
Mrs. P

And my pledge —

Dear Barry,

Thank you so much for your generous gift of $50.00 this holiday season to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Rest assured that we always use our supporters’ gifts in the most efficient way possible.

Happy New Year to all. I’m happy to report that I met my goal of 4x 30mins per week walking. In fact, I’ve walked every day but one for the last two weeks,including a 5km walk yesterday. I pledged $20 to Heart & Stroke. I’m also going to pledge to continue until the end of January,with a $2 penalty for any missed. I’m hoping that by then it will be a habit. Thanks, Kim, for the push.

You guys are awesome! Hilary, my favorite part of the video is at the end because you and I stood in that spot! (as did the other 42,0000 tourists that day, but whatever).

Gwynn, you are right .. just because we’ve reached the New Year, doesn’t mean it’s over. Keep going folks!

I did not quite make my goal of fifteen 45-minute walks which I will blame on carpal tunnel surgery and a New Years family visit from Megan, Bill and the boys at which point we all just sat for 3 days! However, I did do thirteen 45-minute walks and I will do the 45-minute walk (or the equivalent) 4-5 times/week in January. So, rounded up, I owe http://www.polarisproject.org $30.00 total. That was a fun challenge and, as Gwynn says, I hope it becomes habit.

So I did my 20 cardio workouts! Thanks Kim for the challenge, I enjoyed it and I enjoyed everyone else’s enthusiam! I donated $50 to Sick Kids, in memory of my niece – a bit more than I pledged, but it is a great cause. Happy New Year everyone and I too pledge to keep this up.

Okay, so there are no excuses so I won’t whine about the last three days of the year when I felt really, really bad, like, dugh! dirt! and didn’t walk the last three 8 km sessions.

Final tally: 56 km walked out of 80 pledged. Missing: 24 km.

So I owe the $20, plus $2 for each of the 24 km I didn’t walk = $68 to the Sick Kids Hospital (I think; Kim, check the record.)

I won’t even complain about Kim’s mom sucking me into the extra 30 km, but that’s my fault. Not whining, either; just sayin’

Loved the challenge, and learned a great lesson about being realistic. Will continue. Will continue. Will continue. Will …

THe Rocky theme? Best training video? Not quite. The theme from Chariots of Fire blows it away.

There I was back in the day, having dropped out of the Ottawa Marathon at about the 14 mile mark, and got a bus ride back to the finish line. And I’m standing there, exhausted and feeling foolish, and somebody with a ghetto blaster put on Chariots of Fire and I’m standing by the snowfence watching the finishers and started misting up and then sniffling back a running nose mixed with tears.

Awesome, that theme. ‘Nuff to make a groan man cry.

It was the best of intentions, it was the worst of intentions. Perfect score on the cardio and resistance training sessions but failed miserably on the 8-minute abs. Didn’t do it once.

Looks like I’m an all-or-nothing girl. Or like too many people in my family hog the TV. Or I’m really good at excuses. So I guess I’m anteing up $55 for Alzheimer’s.

On the bright side, my treadmill intervals are up to 6.5 mph, I have to up the reps on my resistance training and I’m down a few pounds, in spite of my Christmas feasting. Thanks for the inspiration, Kim.

Interested in another challenge? I’m walking 2013 km in 2013. I’m already at 13 km, so just 2000 to go…

Unlike Barry, I did not like this challenge because it made me feel more guilty than normal for missing the gym. Thanks for that, Mom!

I can’t remember what I overcommitted to, but I fell far far short with 26,900lbs lifted, 38 pull ups, 318 push-ups and 326 sit ups. And despite what she says, Maris got a good number of walks and trips to the dog park. In other news, I worked a ton of overtime in anticipation of the fiscal cliff that never was…

On to 2013!

Heather, about the 2013 km in 2013. I was about to say “sure,me too”, until I did the math and realized that that works out to over 5.5kms a day. As Bill found out, goals have to be realistic, and for me that isn’t realistic, so for me I’ll stick with my present goal. But I’ll cheer you on from the sidelines.

Heather, I also did the math and realized that you have a pretty intense goal for 2013. All the power to you! I’ll be cheering you on!

Thanks for the cheers, Gwynn and Barry, but 5K a day is pretty reasonable when you wear a pedometer. It’s actually only 6,600 steps, and I’m shooting for 10,000 steps a day. That said, I’m not always good at sticking to my goals (see above) so keep cheering and keep me honest.

Okay, folks. Paid my $55 to the Alzheimer’s Society, and while I was there, signed up to Walk for Memories January 26. If you have a warm spot in your heart for this charity, I would welcome your support: https://secure.alzheimertoronto.ca/ParticipantPage.aspx?L=2&CCID=42&PID=4952&GC=GTv2.

I’m walking with (and for) my dad. I’d be happy to walk for your friends and loved ones, too, by writing their names on my shirt.

Ok, I made my donation .. rounded up to $50. I’m supporting a high-poverty, 100% immigrant science class in NYC to help them do DNA analysis. If anyone else wants to help these folks make their goal, here’s the link:

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/what-species-is-this-young-scientists/870905/