After it alluding me for weeks I finally hit a 7-day streak of getting a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night. 

Even though I was feeling meh when I woke up, and throughout the majority of the day, I headed to the gym for my second 500 kettlebell swing workout of the back-to-back workouts. I kept the weight at 18 kg (40 lbs), the reps (25-25-50) and the rest time (30 secs between sets, 60 secs between rounds) as I did yesterday. 

I was able to tackle all 500 reps unbroken, only allowing the time to slip by 10 seconds. I am now 3,500 swings into the 10,000 swing challenge. 

You know what's pretty badass? This challenge went from something that my buddy, Joe Sorge, and I each heard about separately to now there being 8 (currently) of us taking the challenge.

That's 80,000 swings in total and all of us will be healthier, stronger and have more endurance thanks to it. 

I have a friend at work who is considering doing their first Spartan Race this summer with me. And I have 4-6 friends who are planning on running the Fenway Park Spartan Race with me when it is announced. 

Last year my other friend, C.C. Chapman, exposed me to GORUCK and since then both myself and another friend, Chel Wolverton, have completed one each and are planning on completing several more next year. 

In between all of this have come various other challenges such as Laura Gassner Otting, Joe Sorge and I having a friendly competition for 6k row times. 

The connective tissue between all of this? Friends pushing each other’s fitness to new levels by trying new experiences, challenges and workouts. Even though we’re not with each other, we are still able to push each other and inspire one another via Facebook, text, etc. 

When I came back home from the gym we headed out to run our errands, like we typically do on Sundays. 

Though I really want to get back to eating healthy, we did use today to enjoy more of our leftovers. It’s hard this time of the year so I just try to eat healthy when I can while also allowing myself to enjoy. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon either watching football or playing my new PS4. 

Tomorrow it’s back to work for a few days after the long weekend. With no meetings on my schedule tomorrow (I know, crazy!), I am going to continue closing out on contracts and other end-of-year tasks.