So it’s time to dive into our inaugural 10in10 challenge here at Deadat30. To get a full run down on what the 10in10 challenge is all about click here, but simply put it’s doing 10 new things you’ve never done before in 10 days. The things can be themed, and can be as mundane or adventurous as your schedules and budgets permit. Before you get too excited thinking about the daredevilish content that may appear below in our first 10in10 challenge, I must warn you there is nothing groundbreaking about these 10 activities. However it was a successful attempt at the challenge and helped break up the daily routines of Perth life, whilst Jay was skydiving and mountain climbing around New Zealand. Enough of the drabble and jealous commentary about Jay’s latest adventure, here are the 10 new things I tried in order to successfully complete the Deadat30 10in10 challenge…
Day One – Swim a Mile
Running – yes. Cycling – tried and tested. Swimming – not my cup of tea. I’ve never really understood how people can go down to a pool and swim lap after lap when we have some of the best beaches in the world on our doorstep. Also, it was one of the few sports in my younger years I was below average at. However with a triathlon on the bucket list I decided I ought to try and give it a proper go rather than my previous attempts of swimming a few laps then heading for the spa, what better way to start than try swimming a mile. Blessed by a rainy and miserable Friday I popped down the Melville Aquatic Centre, paid the exorbitant fee of $6 and began swimming. 32 laps was the goal, with time irrelevant. After 40 minutes of laps and gawking at how on earth some of these old speedo-donning geezers could just swim lap after lap effortlessly and I’d completed the mile. Despite certainly not being my forte, as I’m well aware that school children swim that distance regularly over the course of a lesson, I can safely say I’ll be back in the pool more regularly now as I felt absolutely knackered post swim.
Day Two – Eat a Big Mac
Appetizing: No wonder it took me 24 years to try one
Don’t ask me how I made it nearly 24 years without trying the most advertised fast food burger of our time. But now I can kiss goodbye my trump card for those late night Never Have I Ever drinking games, as I have now consumed a Big Mac. Just another average MaccyDee’s burger to be fair, and to no surprise, it looked nothing like its advertisement… Well played Ronald.
Day Three – City to Surf Half Marathon
Back to a more serious challenge. After my previous running triumph, I put some time and effort into this one. I’d done a good month’s worth of training, running four or five times a week, and being able to cruise at around 5 minutes per kilometre. The goal was to therefore try and maintain that pace and run under one hour and 45 minutes, possibly break the 100 minute barrier if I caught a second wind. I could not believe it myself, but thanks to the ‘crowd effect’ of the race I smashed it in 91 minutes, averaging just over four minutes per kilometre. My inner child’s competitiveness kicked in right from the start and never looked back after passing the 14km mark under an hour. A huge thanks to the volunteers and other competitors on the day (and the amount of ladies in lycra on display).
City to Surf: The shoe that soldiered on, and NIKE+ app finishing time
Day Four – Read a Book in a Day
Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary
I only ever really read when travelling as buses, trains, planes and airport stopovers all provide me with adequate time to bury my face into a good book. However at home, I scarcely read and after returning from Thailand I was keen to rectify that. I’d purchased Hunter S Thompson’s Rum Diary whilst I was away but had other books to occupy my time. So post City to Surf, still moving like a cripple I opted to navigate my way through the 200-something pages of rum fuelled debauchery set in beautiful Puerto Rico. Definitely worth the read, and am glad I read it in the comfort of my home instead of being on the road as I feel my ‘holiday alcoholism’ would have reached new heights whilst reading the book abroad. Here’s a great list of books to read before you’re too old to enjoy them.
Day Five – Meditation
Again, another area I’ve never really bought into. But after reading a long list of successful, self driven people incorporate meditation into their daily routine, I thought I’d give it a chance. Also, I’d just spent the last 15 minutes hurling abuse at my laptop for ‘not doing what it’s told’, so I thought maybe it was a good opportunity to try and relax and clear my mind. 30 minutes of soft soothing music later, and I was feeling far more relaxed and the challenge had been completed (despite the fact it hadn’t cleared my mind, instead it had channelled my thoughts more clearly and narrowed my focus). Meditation comes in many forms, however I am not sure this type is for me, I will however have a look into other options and try and pave way for it to become a part of my weekly routine.
Day Six – 1000×1000
Inspired by Jay’s article, and just for a giggle I set out to do 1000 push-ups and sit-ups in a day. I hadn’t done push-ups or sit-ups since being a young tucker at football training. I hated doing them then, and I can now say I hate doing them now. Chipping away at the total throughout the day around regular life, doing them in sets of 25, evening soon set in and I realised I was no hope of completing the task, and finished with a grand total of 500 each. I will not be reattempting this anytime soon.
Day Seven – Juggling
After day six’s failure, I thought I’d set myself another foolish impossible task and attempt to break the world record for juggling three balls. The record stands at just over 12 hours. I gave myself 30 minutes of practice and just took my longest attempt, which was a poultry 47 seconds. Pathetic.
Day Eight – Eat Haggis
Battered haggis down at the Grand Boulevard Café in Joondalup
One day I will make it to Scotland and eat the real thing, but until then the best option I had was to head down and visit Doug at the Grand Boulevard Café in Joondalup. Doug is a fourth generation Scottish butcher, and his café is one of the only places in Perth to offer the Scottish delicacy. After a last minute Google and image search of haggis between ordering the meal and it arriving, our mate Dom sat opposite me was in hysterics, as he announced Wikipedia’s definition of haggis – “a savoury pudding containing sheep’s pluck (heart, liver and lungs)”. Sounds delicious! However as it arrived it certainly didn’t look as intimidating as it’s online pictures. Thankfully Doug had told me to order the more authentic battered version, as I was delighted to see a familiar texture on the outside. Then we got stuck into it and with a few exaggeratedly pulled faces, the first bite was down. Manageable, I thought to myself. Another delicate bite went down, before the rest was smothered in ketchup and wolfed down. Surprisingly good, but I am definitely keen to get to Scotland and give it another tasting.
Day Nine – Online Poker
I’ve been part of many a late night casual poker games in my time, however I’ve never dived into the online world. This was spurred by a bloke I met on an overnight bus in Thailand and told me of how he bought his first car with online poker winnings. I definitely didn’t expect those results, as he spent hours, days and weeks to earn that amount, but I definitely thought it was worth a crack on a rainy day with an hour to spare. After depositing $50 into 888Poker and two hours of incredibly slow play on the 1/2c tables, I called it quits for the day. I witnessed a peak at $52.63 and a low of $46.43, before finishing the session at $48.73 – that’s almost enough to buy a car right?
Day Ten – New Beer
1L of Kaiserdom
A great way to end the challenge, and may in fact become a common theme in my 10in10 challenges. People that know me, will be well aware I drink literally anything that is put infront of me, so the main part of this challenge is finding a beer I hadn’t consumed (or remembered consuming). Down at my local Dan Murphys, I stumbled across a limited edition 1L German lager called Kaiserdom. And it went down just fiiiiiiiiiine.
And with that last sip of delicious beer, our first 10in10 challenge comes to a close. I can definitely say it was harder than initially anticipated, as it really is difficult to find things you’ve never done before, and then incorporate them into your daily life. However it was achievable, albeit with some very simple tasks. Sticking with beer as the theme, I’ll next be visiting 10 Perth bars in 10 days as our next 10in10challenge, so the content should be more entertaining and helpful to you, the readers.
So get out there and start planning your very own 10in10 challenge.
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