@rusgolden I have accepted all of the requests I have received which was about 9.

@MissionEnforcer
Welcome to "Title Town USA" also known as the "Toilet Paper Capital of the World" (we played like crap this past weekend so it is fitting). Let me introduce you to Green Bay, Wisconsin! The home of beer, brats and cheese! You probably know that Green Bay fans are often called Cheeseheads because Wisconsin is known for its cheese production and because of those massive foam fromage hats people started wearing in the '80s. What you may not know is that it was originally meant as a taunt - Illinois football and baseball fans used it to mock their Wisconsinite opponents. Besides our love for food, beer and football, Green Bay has very friendly people, beautiful lakes and it's a beautiful area to run and cycle!

Welp. Already introed, but now that we have some instructions...

@MissionEnforcer

I'm *from* a little town in the center of Connecticut, but I've been living in Southwest Virginia for the last 7 years since I graduated college. I miss the New England Autumns, I think they're prettier, but at the same time the mountains here are nice.

Picture of the area where I live now under the spoiler tag. It's from last fall though, as the leaves aren't really changing here yet.

Also sent friend requests to the entire team for anyone who hadn't already added me or I wasn't already friends with. Just waiting on some to approve still.

100 oz of water is going to be very hard for me as I start feeling ill around 70, especially during months other than summer.

Hello! Sorry for being late – I spent the weekend recovering from an event that we have been organising to represent international students and our cultures at university college. I’m excited to be here following the Summer challenge, but please do not hesitate to give me a nudge if I go quiet. I’m quite busy and forget to check-in sometimes, but I will try to keep up with the forums as best as I can!

I’m Zara (24) and I have been living in Norway for over a year now. I moved here from Scotland to live with my long-term partner of seven years and have recently started studying Norwegian at a local university college. By this time next year, I want to be fit, fluent and return to my profession in graphic design and printed media. I’ve never been married and don’t have any children yet, but I have a cat who is only a year old and very playful! He can get a bit too excited sometimes and be a bit of an *kitten*. Like @geminiswede I also enjoy playing games, both tabletop and video games (mostly MMORPG or fantasy theme).

I started my journey back in April when I found myself on the scales at 87.1kg (192lbs), the heaviest weight I’ve ever been. I had put on over 20lbs during winter here in Norway, where it reached -22.3°C at it’s coldest in my town. I’d never been content with my weight, but this motivated me to change my eating habits and I found myself on MFP. Since then, I have lost 16.8kg (37lbs) and I’m starting to feeling much healthier and more confident in myself. I’ve not yet completed my MFP journey, but I’d say I’m about half way towards my goal weight of 50-55kg (110-120lbs).

I participated in the Summer with T5 along with our co-captains and some other seasoned players – it’s lovely to have you back as well as some new faces! I enjoyed doing mostly cardio and spent a lot of time walking. This was great during the Summer, when at it’s warmest it reached 28.1°C outside. Unfortunately, now that it’s getting cold again I don’t think I’ll be able to walk about as much so I will be exercising indoors. Fitness Blender is great for this, but I’d also like to do some strength training and focus on burning fat/retaining muscle.

Anyway, I think that’s enough chatter from me for now!

@b3eachy – Hope you had a lovely birthday! I found your post very motivating to read and can only hope to be active like you in the future!

@MiamiSeoul - I’m also sorry to hear about your dear Bella. It’s awful losing a much-loved family member and I have lost a few companions over the years. Thoughts are with you. x

@MissionEnforcer - Challenge #1 and good to see you again!

@littlebarry your going to be missed on the team .

I'm only waiting for Kat .

Week 1 Challenge 1 - Say Hallo!

a. Send out Friend Requests - Done (still waiting on Kat to reply; all others have been accepted).
b. Tag @MissionEnforcer - Done
c. State what town/province/state/country you are from and give a brief description of where you live - (see below/Done):

Hallo!

I live in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida - which is on the West Coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. We are also known as the Sugar Coast with our White Sandy Beaches. "The Bay" really is made up of multiple bays - Old Tampa Bay, Upper/Lower Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay and McKay Bay. Oddly, the city of Tampa actually lies on the Hillsborough bay, go figure. We are in a sub-tropical zone, so the weather here is very temperate all year around, though often quite humid. With the breezes off the surrounding water, our summers aren't even as hot as they were in Virginia (which is where I'm from originally). While summers are hot in the 90'sF, they rarely every get over 100F, which was pretty common when I lived on the Virginia coast and in the Washington DC area.

The Tampa area is known for so many things...beautiful beaches; cuban cigars; MacDill Air Force Base (home to two major combatant commands); many sports teams - Bucs, Rays, Bolts, Storm, Rowdies; Busch Gardens; and other resorts. It really is like living in paradise all year.

When I first visited the area in the 1990's, I fell in love with Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa. Also known as "Babe Shore" (or "Jiggly Way") for all the interesting running sights along what is claimed to be the longest continuous sidewalk in the world (4.5 miles (7.2 km) long). In this picture facing north, there are multi-million dollar mansions on the left side and Hillsborough bay on the right.


This area off Bayshore has also been a common paddling location for me over the past year; however, there has been some sightings of an 8-10' alligator swimming about, so I've been avoiding the area lately - especially since he's almost as long as my paddleboard and I really don't want to be viewed as an appetizer on a cracker for him. Clearly the gator doesn't mind the salt water (though it is known to be more 'brackish' on the northern side of Hillsborough bay because the fresh water river dumps into the bay there).


If you are a fan of the Punisher movie, you may also know one of our other landmarks, the Sunshine Skyway bridge which connects the lower end of the Pinellas county peninsula with the mainland of FL.


Some of you may have never seen a paddleboarding event, so I am including this youtube video link from one of my favorite races last year - the Paddlefest in Englewood FL. This will again be my last race of the season this year in mid-November; however, we'll be racing on the gulf side instead of in the intercoastal waterway like last year. So, I'll be doing a lot of paddling during this challenge.
https://youtu.be/Tf13--IQ9aQ

BTW, if you are wondering if I can paddleboard in Iceland...others have done it (BRRRR!!!) - picture from SUP Magazine...


Looking forward to many miles of traveling with all my Team 5 mates! Per our name, I like Fit Fives the best, and also Fab Fives.

Cheers!!

Have you all seen the weight tracker . ?.

Hola all!

So far, six of us have chimed-in regarding a team name.

The favorites thus far are:
1st place - Fit Fives
2nd place - Fab Fives
3rd place - Five Star Racers

Still in contention: Fantastic Fives; Golden Rulers & Rus' Angels

1) Team 5
2) Flying High-Fivers
3) Five Star Hotties
4) Fit Fives
5) Rus' Angels
6) Five Star Racers
7) Five Golden Rings
8) Golden Rulers
9) Fab Fives
10) Fantastic Five
11) Sole Survivors
12) Holy Walkamolies
13) Lost in Pace
14) Take a Hike
15) Got the Runs
16) Toe Jammers