I have a friend who has been dealing with carpal tunnel, so I put this video together to help him understand the enemy. As per GI Joe, “Knowing is half the battle.” Hence, here’s the straight deal on the anatomy of this condition, as well as treatment options.

About a dozen DDIP’ers ran the Manna-on-Main Street 5K Race for Hunger on this cold and windy morning. It rained down bucket-loads over the past couple days, which was an intimidating prelude to the event. But we showed up and kicked anus!

We conducted a motivating warm-up before the start of the race and then cheered on children and families, who were running the 1 Mile Fun Run. The Baysquatch Platoon then stepped off on the 5K, running in columns of two for the duration of the event. Our strategy was a combination of 30-30-30’s, slingshot runs and shuffling to cadence. This kept us motivated and passed the time. Many runners, road guards and lookers-on shouted encouraging remarks about our spirited cadence.

The sun began to smile upon us, it’s rays of warmth penetrating the clouds and touching down in Lansdale. I feel like we willed this in a way, through a community of teamwork and the positive mission of feeding the needy in our community. Mission Accomplished!

As a finale, we battled the likes of Shoprite, Rotary Intl and Manna staff in the Shopping Cart Challenge. Though we had a very fast and capable team assembled, Shoprite once again took the title. Three years running now, I believe.

Words of encouragement for those who regard themselves, “not a runner,” or who are intimidated however slightly of athletic pursuits, there’s NOTHING TO IT BUT TO DO IT! Use this first or most recent event as a motivational springboard for other challenges.

Just off our first full week of training, our Baysquatch Platoon numbers have grown to approximately 45 motivators. We’ve got a foundation of DDIP veterans and more than a few new joins in the mix. The energy is high and the training frequency (two days, in lieu of three) is a recipe for success, I think, as the training primes us physically and mentally, and we have ample opportunity to rest and recover.

Week 2 training consisted of a mixed bag of bodyweight training, runs and drills, rubberband man PT and the fiercest Tabata regimen on Thursday. We have a full house and an intense atmosphere of motivation. BeeBach helped us capture a kick anus platoon cheer to end the week on a high note!

Diet: many DDIP’ers are hacking their diets this time around, myself included. Marottavator has several taking part in her Restart Program, in conjunction with DDIP, for a synergistic approach to lifestyle change. By eating the hell out of some salads and shitcanning surplus carbs, stress eating etc, I’ve lost five pounds and clothes are fitting looser.

Challenges: several of us are up and running with the Fitbit Weekly Grind, competing with steps taken. I have found my experiences so far with this wearable device to be very cool. 15,000 steps are typical, M-F. However, Good Egg and Tonya Nice invariably take the lead every day.

We are also doing the 30 Burpee Challenge this week. On T/TH we are able to easily knock out these reps but squeezing them in on the off days and weekends can be tricky. My strategy is to perform them in blocks of 5-10 spread across the day. 20 more to go today.

Goals for this week:

1. Maintain stellar Baysquatch attendance and motivation.

2. Deliver [2] fierce and varied workouts

3. Consistency in PT, eating, breathing, sleeping, helping.

4. Capture some video footage of the platoon in action.