Latest Updates from Steve's 40 Days of Hell and Other Stuff That's Going On

 

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12/22

Raising some cash

Jason Mittman of Austin, Texas is planning to try and raise $30,000 for breast cancer during his birthday challenge (and it's a good'n), to take place some time in January. Check here for the latest details.

Check out the site's new Flash intro.

12/20

History, Half-ironman, and a New Year's Resoution

John Fieldhouse has put a different twist on his challenge. When his birthday rolled around he found himself out of condition for his desired event, a half ironman. So he gave himself his age in days, 34, to train. He will attempt the challenge on December 30 and birthdaychallenge will be there to cover it. Stay tuned.

There is a new page up with some of Steve's history of doing birthday challenges.

Reed has come up with a New Year's Resolution (his first, at least that he can remember) that's along the birthday challenge theme, particularly Debbie's theme. He plans to do 35 minutes of exercise (at least) every, single day of the coming year. Wow You'll be able to keep track of his resolution here.

12/12

heatin' up in the cold

Winter is just about officially here but things couldn't be hotter with challenges coming in from around the country. Todd Mei and Josh Finkelstiein have both concocted some major mid-winter suffering to take place in the Great White North (well, not exactly Canada but pretty damn close: Wisconsin and Boston to be precise), comprised of running (in shorts!), climbing (rock), ice fishing, drinking, bratwurst eating and more. Stay tuned for the exact challenges.

The early word from Colorado is that Ingrid didn't make it--but really, what's that got to do with anything? That's all we've heard. We look forward to the details.

From the Bay Area come two reports:

The first is Mike Papciak's "regular guy challenge"--hmmm, I think I saw a V8 on the list, so maybe not so regular--from months back that he's finally gotten around to sending to us. Thanks Mike, it looks great! ps - the white background was his idea.

And from the South Bay we just received word about Ted "Sweet Pea" Pederson's last-minute 34-day epic! Wow, what a thing to pull out of the hat. He's already three days in and you can read his diary here.   Go Ted! We hope to make it up for a few of the events.

12/4

ingrid off the couch

Inspired by the recent goings on here at birthdaychallenge.com, Coloradoan Ingrid Tistaert has decided to take a day off from her 9 to 5 drudgery on December 7. No one can express this better than Grid herself, so here is what she has to say:

OK, I think I've lost it.
No,I've definitely lost it.
I'm going to attempt to do a birthday challenge. Off the couch, into the fire, I leap to do an insane bashing of the human body. If only I had trained, I might be better off. It's not as if my challenge would be particularly challenging to most, but at least I'm doing one. Here are the things I will attempt (and no laughing for all of you strong people out there! Just remember, this is off the couch! I haven't even been drinking!):

1) 26,000 vertical feet of snowboarding on blackdiamond runs
2) 2.6 miles running
3) 260 push-ups
4) 260 crunches
5) 26 shots of beer and alcohol

WEll, there she is. Wish me luck!
Love, Grid

Good luck! wish we could be there.

11/29

doniel's  king pin curse!

The latest word on Doniel Drazin's Challenge is 99.98% positive, the missing .02 percent being the unfinished King Pin fritters. Doniel successfully swam 26 minutes in the ocean (at midnight), put in 26 bolts at Echo Cliffs (in the dark), redpointed 26 routes at Echo and then biked 26 miles before vomiting his fritters into his car on the drive back home! Way to go Doniel, and hopefully an update by the man himself will be forthcoming.

11/22

happy birthday!

Stainless finishes (read the diary if you want to know anything further).

11/21

Doniel, debbie, and an easy 10

In a few hours Doniel Drazin will start his challenge consisting of: 26 minute ocean swim (at midnight), placing 26 bolts on new routes at Echo Cliffs. Climbing 26 routes, doing 260 sit-ups and push-ups, eating 2.6 KING PIN fritters and 26 shots/beers/cigarettes (any combo), 2.6 mile hike X4 (the hike to the cliff), and biking 26 miles toward home, in the dark. At least the weather has gotten good for him.

Debbie wrote in to say that she's still going strong and that her workouts are getting more intense. Go Mom!

Stainless went out for an easy 10.

11/20

2 more days

Steve's been doing some biking up hills and today he played golf.

11/17

the 400 blows

With 6 days left in The Challenge, Steve arose at the crack of dawn on an unseasonably cold (read: freezing) Santa Barbara morning and successfully completed one of the harder events, the 400 boulder problems. Starting off at Red Rock then moving to Lizard's Mouth, the Brickyard, back to Lizard's Mouth, and finishing up in the dark (and did I mention cold?) at Painted Cave, Stainless braved the Santa Barbara sandstone to send the raddest problems like Chris Sharma on an unstoppable methamphetime binge. Up next, 4 consecutive 10,000 foot climbing days on the bike. Hopefully the roads aren't too iced.

11/6

American boy

"Everything hurts. I can't touch any part of my body without it hurting." - Stainless

Redlands, CA (BC) - After a combination day of stadiums and ping-pong ("The ping-pong took 4 hours. I was exhausted by the end and barely finished by midnight. This was unexpected."), followed the next day by 40 pitches of climbing at Margheritaville outside Redlands ("All slabs. My toes are killing me."), Steve needed a rest. He decided to call in the All America Day that was originally slated for election day (i.e. tomorrow): 40 total in 4’s (4 Hollywood movies, 4 smokes, 4 beers, 4 cocktails, 4 hot dogs, 4 bags of chips, 4 talk shows, 4 soap operas, 4 packs of Hostess products, and 4 Denny's Grand Slam breakfasts). At the time of this update, all was going well, with only two hot-dogs (the Challenger was calling from a convenience store) and two more movies to go. To complete the All America Day, Stainless will undoubtedly bring lawsuits against Denny's, Hostess, Frito-Lay, Budweiser, Philip Morris, Jack Daniels, 7-11 and the Jerry Springer show for all the damage they have caused his wretched existence, before proceeding on a murderous sex-crazed rampage across the country caused by watching insipid Hollywood sex-and-violence laden movies and televison. Watch your back.

11/4

The Mom Challenge

Former @&#$%! Video Shop employee and recent mom Debbie Beukema  has written to tell us about her challenge. Tired of making pregnant excuses and what have you, she has decided to have a year long birthday challenge where she must exercise every, single day of the year, hangover's and baby's-that-cry-and-keep-you-up-all-night notwithstanding.

We will keep you informed. Go Debbie!

Here are some updates from the woman formally know as Little Debbie Snack Cakes.

By the way, Steve may be racking-up injuries by the day but is still out there, giving it his all. Check out his halfway report diary. 

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