"Does anybody really know what time it is?"
by Chicago
Saturday at Fitness Ridge is slightly less structured than the rest of the week. But not the morning, so off we vanned the 3 miles to the state park to begin our ascent up the mountain. By the way guess how manyMormon churches a person passes on that 3 mile drive? I'll tell you at the end. I decided today to have the van drop me at the top of the path and walk down . I figured that would be a new adventure and I would get to see the part of the trail I had not hiked yet.
About halfway down I encountered the owner, his pregnant wife, and three kids aged 2,4, and 6 jogging up the trail. The two youngest were being pushed up in the stroller by dad. I had to confess to them that I had started up and was coming down. He said that's a "fun" thing to do on saturday but the rest of the week is uphill. Now, I think I know what is fun and believe me my idea of fun is not in the same zip code, not in the same area code, hell it's not even in the same solar system as going downhill instead of uphill.
Got back in time for pool class. Nothing says I am a macho man like holding hands with your fellow campers and going around in a circle and singing along to Gwen Stefani and some of disco's finest. It's like synchronized swimming for the mentally challenged but again fun and an enjoyable way to burn calories.
I spent the afternoon at the laundromat doing two weeks of dirty clothes. And while St George may be the whitest city in the world the laundromat was not so much. It's really expensive too. $1.75 per load to wash and I had 5 loads. And the dryers blow about as much hot air as my freezer. An hour for mostly dry and I was done. I listened to the Terps-Miami game on the XM radio to help pass the time there, and well that sucked.
We had a four pm slide show of the weeks' events and everyone gave a tiny speech about their week. It was like graduation day for those leaving and I can not stress this enough everyone here, for whatever reason they are here has been wonderful to me. Supportive, Encouraging and just happy and interesting to talk to.
We loaded into the van and headed to the Chuck-o-rama for dinner. The chuck is really just the Utah version of old country buffet. We were given 500 calories to "spend" in anyway we chose. First thing I did was fill half the plate with salad. Topped with a hard boiled egg I had been craving. Added one 3oz slice of turkey, some baked beans, and I split a baked potato with one of the other campers. Total calories 340. Went back and got a chicken breats for dessert. Most of the other people were focussed on dessert and I saw alot of frozen yogurt and a few brownies making there way to our table. I also downed 2 french fries but I ate them while still in line so I am pretty sure they had no calories :) I think 26 of 42 people made the trip. I wish we were going somewhere else in the following weeks because frankly the food pretty much sucked.
Sunday is a day for family and church here in Utah and a day of rest for us fitness ridgers. They like their churches here and each morning I pass 4 LDS churches on our 3 mile drive. I am not sure why 1 big church wouldn't be better than 4 normal sized churches but it is apparent that the mega church phenomena in the south is not taking root in southern utah. Week one is done. I feel energized, not very sore, and excited about going forward. I really didn't think on day one I would feel this good on saturday but the body is a great machine. I hope everyone is having a fun weekend and it's now 8:30 here in the mountain time zone. I don't understand either why two hours away in Vegas it's one hour different, and 25 hours away in Madison it is one hour different as well. And the TV schedule is screwed up as too, because Survivor was over when I thought it should have been starting. By the way those guys on the island got it easy compared to us. :) Oh well I hope everyone has a nice weekend see you next week for week two and of course some more true genius. Peace, Jim
1 comment:
i can answer the church size thing! actual "church" is only one hour of what is typically a 3+ hour stay each sunday. after "church," everyone heads to sunday school.. and yes.. everyone. kids are divided by ages and the adults are divided by the level of their learning. after sunday school, the men have a meeting and the women gather for their group meeting, which is called 'the relief society.' each week typically has a theme and someone has prepared a talk in advance. anyway, the reason for the smaller buildings is that each "parish" is called a ward and wards have a maximum number of people because any more would take away the "intimacy" (can't think of a better word) of the sunday school class and group meetings. instead, they often have two wards in one church and they share the building each week (one starts everything at 9 and the other starts everything at 1) and they switch off for half the year.
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