What did I do?

Just a quick update.....

A couple of weeks ago, I put up a post on a small challenge that I was going to take on with a couple of friends in December, just for something "easy" and fun to do at the end of the off-season. Little did I know there would be so much interest in participating!!

We have 46 people playing!! 46 people, that's pretty cool. 46 people said they wanted to participate, but not everyone is logging and I'm not sure we have 46 total, but we definitely have 20 and it's been fun to do with a group, accountability and such! It's always more fun to take on a challenge with other people and having 46 competitive, Type-A personalities, "compete" in a challenge makes things interesting.  Take day 1 for example, a simple 20-second plank.  Easy, done, fast, but nope, probably half of the participants (I am also guilty of this) upped the ante and did multiple sets of 20-seconds or much longer than 20-seconds, 2:00! to be exact <---wasn't me. This should make the last day very very interesting...Sorry Mei, Liz and Shannon I think your 7:00 record might be on the chopping block....we've got some uber competitors in this one now. (I'm going to trust that as the planks get longer we all remember our form and when we start to push our bums up in the air or down to the floor to make things easier, we realize we aren't holding proper form anymore and should stop the timer!)

(update: We have had planking at birthday parties, planking on the beach in the surf, planking on Tuesday trainer rides and planking in the middle of bike rides)

The first 20 days have been fun. But let me tell you, it's been tough. 2:30 nearly did me in...I'm not sure I'll make it the entire time without breaking form.  But I sure will keep trying.  I've seen progress from day 1, which was the point (along with being fun) and this kind of makes me want to pick some kind of challenge to do every month in 2018 (pushups, squats, wall-sits something like that) simple, fast, fun and effective if done appropriately. I'm researching 12 challenges for 2018 right now and I think I have found a different challenge for each month.....we shall see!

Happy planking!

#findyourhappy

Venture Race 2.0

I wanted to start this post with this....what a great place to call home, when you are thousands of mile away from where you grew up, it's great when you have friends that you can call family.

This was the second year of this "race" and I sure hope it keeps happening year after year.  Think Amazing Race meets being silly, interval training, belly laughs, dressing up in costumes, competitive fun and following clues on Biki Bikes all over downtown Honolulu. Last year was the tester year to see how it all worked out and it was such a success that this year the event was larger and many more friends were present! I was also able to bring on a little help from the lovely ladies at Coeur to provide sweet treats and gift cards for some of the participants, ROKA for some swim caps and Honey Stinger for some bars!! This year the event grew in numbers and Joy and Amanda were great race directors, organizers and party planners. Hopefully next year we can have even more people!

Thanks Bonnie for the cookies and awards, Lori for getting Biki on board, the boys (Gary, Jeff, Shane, Shawn) and Hina for being elves at all of our stops and Michelle and Thomas were gracious enough to open their house afterwards for awards, breakfast and mimosas.  (and all the other people who donated to the event!)

We weren't able to pull off the W this year, but we sure had a fun time trying! Thanks M and Lauren!! (Watch out Tri-animals....we are coming for you next year!!) :-)

 Heart and Courage!

 Go biki!!

Love for everyone!

#findyourhappy