April Showers -- Step Challenge and Photo Scavenger Hunt

[Baltoscott]

The fourth month of 2019 will bring more mud in my area.  Like there isn’t enough already!  But don’t let it get in the way of your goals.  Temperatures should be a bit milder in both North and Southern hemespheres.  Get outside and experience life!  The photo theme this month is curtesy of @NellyG.  See below for more details.                                                

   
How It Works

The primary purpose of these monthly challenges is to keep track of your daily step goals for the month; though many of us track other things as well, like body weight exercises, sleep, trips to the gym, logging food, etc. This is not a competition to see who can do the most of whatever, instead it is a challenge to measure your consistency. So whether you do 1k, 5k, 10k or even 40k steps a day, this is measuring how many days out of the monthly total you can hit your goal.

Some might have a constant goal of 10k steps every single day and others might have a variable goal throughout the week, (and some might even plan days off!) for example.
Monday -> Friday = 10k steps a day
Sat & Sun = “6k steps a day,” or “not tracking”

Regardless of how you structure your daily goals, the only thing that matters for the monthly challenge is whether or not you reach what you set out to do.

Suggested Posting Format    
1) Post either your constant or variable step goal.
2) Keep track of the # of daily goals achieved out of the monthly minimum and or monthly total

Picture Scavenger Hunt — 3 pictures 

The theme of the photo scavenger hunt is to find natural landmarks. 

Grand Canyon

Does that mean no man-made structures at all?  How about markers that tell us what we are looking at? 

Are state borders natural? Probably not.

If it is a famous landmark how about posting without any description and asking us to guess.  (Don’t make us wait too long)

Posting

Although you certainly don’t have to post daily, you’ll likely stay closer to what you set out to do by updating the thread several times/week

Injury Notice
If you injure yourself during the month and need to scale back due to the injury, then all you have to do is adjust your goal for that period. If you normally do 10k steps a day but pull a hamstring and decide to do minimal walking (2k steps a day), then all you have to do is change your goal.

[WendyB]

April Showers Day 26

Steps: Goal 13,000 30 days: 26/30

Boxing 30 days: 26/30

Bike 3 times 30 days: 26/30

Weights DVD 17 days: 15/30

Stomach YouTube 30 days : 26/30

Wall Push Up/Counter push ups 30 days: 26/30

250 Steps per hour 30 days: 25/30

Post Scavenger hunt photos: 4/3

[NellyG]

27 April   Got all my goals done today 😁

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                                   24/20 

4 days over 15,000 steps                                             10 /4           

1 day over 20,000 steps                                                 7/1

Swim 2x per week                                                           4/4               

Dance prac 6 hours a week                                           27/24

6 bike rides or interval walks per month                      6/6            

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                                     3/3 

[WendyB]

April Showers Day 27

Steps: Goal 13,000 30 days: 27/30

Boxing 30 days: 27/30

Bike 3 times 30 days: 27/30

Weights DVD 17 days: 15/30

Stomach YouTube 30 days : 27/30

Wall Push Up/Counter push ups 30 days: 27/30

250 Steps per hour 30 days: 26/30

[SunsetRunner]

April Showers - Day 27
12,000 steps: 13/15 days
20,000 steps: 5/5 days
25,000 steps: 1/1 day
30,000 steps: 1/1 day (new!)
Train w/weights: 13/15 days
Reverse Crunches: 12/15 days (new!)
40 jumping jacks: 18/20 days
Line Dance: 3/4 days
Eat a piece of fruit: 18/20 days
Scavenger Hunt Pics: 5/3 pics

[WendyB]

April Showers Day 28

Steps: Goal 13,000 30 days: 28/30

Boxing 30 days: 28/30

Bike 3 times 30 days: 28/30

Weights DVD 17 days: 16/30

Stomach YouTube 30 days : 28/30

Wall Push Up/Counter push ups 30 days: 28/30

250 Steps per hour 30 days: 27/30

[Baltoscott]

April Showers Day 28

15K steps/day (25 days)		25/25
1 pushup/day		28/30
10 weight-lifting days		11/10
post scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6+ hours 13 days or more during the month		16/13
1 pull-up/day		28/30

Sunrise outside the train station in Baltimore

[WendyB]

OMG @Baltoscott  Stunning!

[NellyG]

29 April

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                                   26/20 

4 days over 15,000 steps                                             10 /4           

1 day over 20,000 steps                                                 7/1

Swim 2x per week                                                           4/4               

Dance prac 6 hours a week                                           27/24

6 bike rides or interval walks per month                      6/6            

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                                     3/3 

[SunsetRunner]

April Showers - Day 28 + 29
12,000 steps: 14/15 days
20,000 steps: 5/5 days
25,000 steps: 1/1 day
30,000 steps: 1/1 day (new!)
Train w/weights: 1415 days
Reverse Crunches: 13/15 days (new!)
40 jumping jacks: 19/20 days
Line Dance: 3/4 days
Eat a piece of fruit: 20/20 days
Scavenger Hunt Pics: 5/3 pics

Great sunrise pic @Baltoscott!

In-between everything else, I've taken up a new hobby. Or re-started after many years, changing from oil to acrylic painting. 

[BMANintheUP]

April started out so strong with great days at the beginning of the month.  Then April 7th thru April 18th I was hit with a super severe migraine that lasted more then 10 days.  I didn't hit a single goal during this time, couldn't pick up my laptop for posting anywhere and pretty much just tried to stay alive.  Which I did!  I finally found an allergy med that worked to help break the migraine and have spent most of the month recovering.  I've been enjoying everyone's great photos when I could stand to look at a screen!  And I've taken a few of picts myself now that I am feeling better.

Here is my adjusted goals for the month:

Adjusted Step Goal to 16 days above 6225 Steps. I'm at 14 of 16.

I also wanted to hit 8 days of 16 hitting at least 7646 Steps (5K for me).  I'm at 9 of 8!

And I wanted to hit at least 4 days over 10,000 steps.  I'm at 2 of 4, but yesterday I hit over 14,000 so I'm still taking this as a win!

Additional Goals

Active 6+ Hours every day: 14 of 16

Sleep 7+ Hours 15 of 30 days: 21 of 30 days (sleep is easy with a migraine!  LOL)

Heart Rate Zones (Either I've been unable to move or able to move alot so so either I missed this by far on migraine days or hit it with flying colors on days where I could actually move!)

Hit Peak Heart Rate 16 of 16 days:  20 of 16 (managed to hit it a few times during the migraines)

10+ Mins of Peak Heart Rate 4 of 30: 14 of 30 

Cardio Heart Rate for 100+ Minutes 16 of 16 days: 14 of 16

From the sideFrom the frontUnnamed Morgan Falls

We still can't figure out how these falls are "Unnamed" but that is how it shows up on the map and any listing of waterfalls in the U.P.  🙂  It's not the largest of falls, but the hike thru the trails of Marquette Mountain to get here sure was a nice one!

[BMANintheUP]

And just for fun, here are some photos of various hikes with my dogs throughout the month.

Talia at Strawberry LakeStrawberry Lake has a 1.1 Mile Loop with a paved trail.Strawberry Lake had Ice on it 4-19, and Kids swimming it on 4-24!Me and Dogs on the side of our private dirt road.Cam enjoying the 30 Acre Field behind us.Talia enjoying the field east of the Orchard at sunrise.Sunrise ball walk with the puppers.An old well in the old orchard!Old orchard inside the 30 acre field that we walk.Other side of the OrchardCam enjoying the field that is part of our 10 Acre Farm

Nearly every day these puppers insist on a Sunrise Ball Walk. We get about 2,000 steps in walking thru our field and the one behind us.  The dogs really enjoy this chance to be off leash and follow their noses.  For the most part they stay within 30 feet of me running circles around me.  But Cam did find himself on a good run chasing a herd of deer on Easter Morning.  He only chased for about 5 minutes before returning to my side, but I would have loved to have a FitBark on him that day to see how many steps he put in that day!

[SunsetRunner]

Love all the photos and stories about your dog-walks @BMANintheUP ! Sorry to hear about your health issues, though. Sounds like you are not letting the bad days take over and are still hitting your goals when you can. Well done!

[WendyB]

April Showers Day 29

Steps: Goal 13,000 30 days: 29/30

Boxing 30 days: 29/30

Bike 3 times 30 days: 29/30

Weights DVD 17 days: 17/30

Stomach YouTube 30 days : 29/30

Wall Push Up/Counter push ups 30 days: 29/30

250 Steps per hour 30 days: 28/30

@BMANintheUP  Sorry to hear about the migraines. Hope they get better. Love all the photos!

@SunsetRunner  I do acrylics all the time. Love your painting!

[SunsetRunner]

Aw, thanks @WendyB! I'd love to see one (or more) of your paintings! 

[WendyB]

@SunsetRunner  I have a ton. I rotate them. But I will take a picture of my wall when I go back downstairs and post later

[Cold_Dog]

April Showers Goals Day 29

15,000 steps: 20/20 days

20,000 steps: 4/5 days

25,000 steps: 2/3 day

30,000 steps: 1/2 day 

Train w/weights:24/30 days

Photos 4/3

<smile> time to wipe this month goal off the books and move to the next ..... time stops for nobody.

This is the mother. The father is just a few steps behind

[Baltoscott]

April Showers Day 29

15K steps/day (25 days)		26/25
1 pushup/day		29/30
10 weight-lifting days		12/10
post scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6+ hours 13 days or more during the month		16/13
1 pull-up/day		29/30

@SunsetRunner -- that is a really fun painting.  

@BMANintheUP -- great pics of your dogs and the falls.  

[WendyB]

@Cold_Dog  Great Pic! Hello little racoon 😃

@SunsetRunner  Here you go.

[benvegi]

My goals for April:  Steps 20,000 per day, 25+ floors p/day, 8+ miles p/d Weights & yoga 3 x a week 

One or more pics of each scavenger hunt topic. 

Check in at least Once a week.

When I fall off my goals...........

4/23 steps 15,889, 23 floors, 7.72 miles

4/24 steps 15,074, 16 floors, 6.81 miles      Drove to camp and setup, light rain by 3 pm

4/25 steps 12,598, 20 floors, 5.69 miles       Rained with lightning & wind all day

4/26 steps 29,497, 136 floors, 13.68 miles    Eight mile trail ride day beautiful weather

4/27 steps 26,789, 120 floors, 12.56 miles    Seven mile ride today rain AM, nice ride after lunch

4/28 steps 23,916, 37 floors, 11.41 miles      left early Sunday got home around noon

weights 9/12

floors 24/30

miles 26/30

check in 6/4

steps 28/30

Dogwoods in full bloom forest is covered with themChar & IBald eagle next to trail very close to camp. I spotted him 3 days.

[NellyG]

30 April 

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                                   27/20 

4 days over 15,000 steps                                             10 /4           

1 day over 20,000 steps                                                 7/1

Swim 2x per week                                                           5/4               

Dance prac 6 hours a week                                           29.5/24

6 bike rides or interval walks per month                      6/6            

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                                     3/3