Fitness Fanatics...

To live in a city that actually values health above the almighty dollar...yes, that is very near to heaven on earth if you ask me. We hung out with the Morgan and the Tommy on Saturday and they had seen this exercise group advertised in the paper earlier that week, had tried it out Saturday morning, and gave it a rave review when we saw them that afternoon. Apparently there is a group of certified fitness trainers who graduated from the technical college up here but still wanted to stay together and train throughout the year, so they started Fitness Fanatics last year in an attempt to accomplish those goals. They get together at various parks four times a week and take whoever shows up through an intense cardio/strength work out for 30-45 minutes...all for free! And it's awesome because it's open to anyone, any age, and any fitness level, and you just come and do as much as you can. I gave it a shot this evening and went with Mo and Tommy and it was most definitely an intense workout. There were about ten of us there, from college age up to a couple women in their forties or fifties. We basically had to run up this hill and as we walked back down it, we had four stations of heavy strength exercises to do, then when we got back down to the bottom, we just turned around and did it all over again. Over and over and over until the head guy called time. I really did think I was relatively in shape since I eat a pretty healthy diet and bike to and from work every day, and I suppose I am relatively in shape, but apparently I'm nowhere near as in shape as I could be. By the end of it, all I wanted to do was either throw up or pass out, or maybe throw up then pass out. But ten minutes later, I was feeling good, like I'd just done something really great for my body. My arms are rather sore from the copious amounts of push-ups we did and I ate an uncharacteristically large amount of dinner tonight, but other than that, my body is exuding the Ahhhh, I'm so glad I worked out so hard post-exercise feeling. It just makes my heart smile that these trainers would give so much of their time freely just to help us live healthier lives.

Now, if only I can just stay motivated enough to keep going every week...

PS. Although it says at the bottom that this was posted by Isaac, don't be fooled. It was indeed not. My beloved husband is one of those people who is just naturally fit and he therefore does not need to exert himself unnecessarily just for the sake of exercise. Lucky. He does bike to work every day and loves to do active things, but even if he didn't do those things, he could pick up and run four miles at any point in time no problem. Not so with me, my friends. Not so with me.