Running On Empty

By Jackson Browne


Todays Lunch the famous pizza, which has no dairy, no meat but tastes pretty good.
Nothing but Net

my path up the mountain
Brandy sporting her new shirt
and the back

My best friend on the path each day I call him "Johnny"
marking my territory on the 2 mile marker

The view at the overlook, the road you see is next to the path, the elevation from the road is what we walk.

Picture Day

holding up the rock
The Hiking 101 group
What I see everyday


TODAY"S PATH
< Elton Concert

"I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama don't take my Kodachrome away"

Paul Simon

There are probably better ways to sort and arrange these pictures but I'm still learning so bear with me here.

First day back and my old nemesis the old lady of the path actually looked happy to see me trudging back up the hill, not that she even said hello but I could sense a slight curl in the 5th or 6th wrinkle around her eye that seemed approving to me. And the owners were able to run me down but it was alot further up the hill so some more and welcome progress.

The food has not changed eggs, turkey bacon, toast monday, pancakes tuesday. Veggie burritos monday lunch, turkey sandwiches tuesday lunch. Dinner monday was chicked with the purple mashed potatoes and dinner tuesday was the lasagna or whatever layered noodles with no dairy chesse and no meat is called.

The new group of campers has a high percentage of teachers as it is spring break but that also means there will be a big turnover next week. In fact I think there will only be 3 stayovers this week when the average has been in the 15 range. I know the place is overflowing with people and pretty much booked through the summer. There are also four or five couples here this week including one living out of a trailer in the parking lot.

Today we hiked a part of Tuacahn which is in the same area as the normal hike but off the path. It was considered very, very moderate by the guide but I work on a slightly different grading system. It was somewhere between "kicked my ass" and "made me want to die" My shoes, socks, feet and legs were covered with the red dust that these red rocks produce. I was able to ascetain this because I was always looking down to make sure I was walking on some solid ground. Level ground would have been a nice change but I guess that's what makes it hiking. I was really, really happy to see the van today.

I have done a bunch of lap swimming these last two days. thw weather has been close to 80 degrees and the pool is so beautiful and refreshing. And for the first time in my 5 weeks there was someone else in the pool doing laps as well.

I have another movie recommendation for you guys. And while I am almost ashamed to admit this, when I was in vegas I made some time for a movie and saw "The Bank Job" It was my favorite movie so far this year. Well acted and a slightly altered tale of a 70's bank heist in England. I am sure you would all enjoy it. Hope all else is well Have a great week Peace, Jim

Back at the Ridge

"I'm Leaving Las Vegas

Lights so bright

Palm sweat, blackjack

On a Saturday night

Leaving Las Vegas"

Sheryl Crow

Hi People.

Back in the great town of St George, Utah. My friend the mountain gladly awaits my return and lots of new friendly faces tonite at dinner, that have no idea what they are in for :)

I just thought I would do a short wrap up of Vegas. Let me start by saying that you can certainlly tell that spring has arrived. All the tell tale signs are there. Spring breakers on the streets of Vegas with monster frozen drinks, it's staying light so much longer, only nine inches of snow fell on madison this week and of course the most obvious sign of spring....the duke basketball team failing to play to their seed and heading back to Durham a week earlier than expected.

Vegas was fun, come on it's vegas. But let's be realistic it's not the place to try to stay on 1200 calories a day. You really need a kitchen to pull that off and alot less choices than you get in Vegas. That being said I am happy with my progress in vegas. Lots of things that seemed very far away last time I walked them seem much closer now. All the calories I consumed last week were in the form of food and not booze. I got to see Elton live in concert.

here's the setlist out of order.

Bennie and the Jets, Rocketman, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Dont Let the sun go down on me, Someone saved my Life tonight, Philadelphia freedom, Pinball wizard, Candle in the wind, Saturday Night's all right for fighting, I believe in love,I'm still Standing,Your Song,Tiny Dancer, Daniel, The Bitch is Back.

I'm looking forward to two strong weeks here and already looking forward to taking some of these habits back to Madison. I will be sneaking down to vegas for one night this weekend to see Bobby from London, and Alex from Madison. I need to give a huge shout-out to Rachel for having lunch with me at The Palm on saturday. Rachel was the fourth ridger I crossed paths with in Vegas. She looked great and I'm sure the Stanford Golden boy was happier for her attention than their amazing win. I did bump into one lady in vegas pushing a stroller and while initially traumatized by the sound of children and strollers it just made realize I'm not letting that merry band of happy people catch me this week, I'm too quick :). I hope everyone had a happy easter Peace, Jim

Fitness Ridge is everywhere

" All you need is Love,

Love is all you need"

The Beatles

So I am coming out of the Mirage at midnight monday evening and out of the corner of my eye I see them Jerry and Homa. A happy Canadien couple who spent 4 weeks at Fitness Ridge three of which coincided with me. Jerry would routinely knock out 13 miles of walking in the mornings. He looked a helluva lot happier sucking on that stoogie enjoying St Paddy's day then I ever saw him look on the mountain. And I am pretty sure it was a coincidence and not a fitness ridge spy but I am keeping a little better lookout know.

The Beatles/Cirque show Love is an aquired taste and after two viewings I don't have it. The music is marvelous but it is not enough to make up for the lack of cohesiveness and mediocre stunts. Maybe I am being slightly harsh but it's not for me, too much modern dance, too much symbolism that flys over the heads of 90% of the audience, and just too much of everything going on at once none of which is all that special. Give me Mamma Mia anyday.

Greetings from Vegas

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen

Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life

See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen"

ABBA

So it's monday afternoon here in Vegas. Jacky gets in at 5:45 pm and we have been apart for 5 weeks and one day. Easily the longest we have been apart. I am very excited. We are going to see LOVE tonite at the Mirage. It is the Cirque show cast to the Beatles music. I have seen it before but I thought Jacky would like to see it so we are heading to the late show at 10 pm Vegas time. I am hoping to stay awake because I have not been staying up late or sleeping late. My first night in Vegas I was asleep at 8 pm. Last night I did better making it to 10:30 but that was because I went to see Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. The show is based on the music of Abba and has been running in Vegas for over five years. It is well acted and just plain fun. I had a blast sitting by myself sucking down my diet pepsi. If there is any doubt I am old my show line up for this week is based on Abba, The Beatles, Elton, and The Eagles. Elton being the only one of the four with a live actual member. We are seeing his red piano show at Caesar's on wednesday. I am also taking in an Eagles tribute band called Desperado saturday night in Mesquite.

So life on the road certainly presents challenges you do not see at Fitness Ridge. You actually have to order your own food, make your own choices and be responsible for your decisions. I have been living on turkey sandwiches, subway and pretzels. I did have two fried eggs, two pieces of bacon and dry wheat toast one morning and it tasted good. I am waiting on Mrs. T for the steak night most likely tomorrow. I have gotten out and walked both days and let me say flat ground is my friend. I don't miss the hill at all. I do miss a couple of my friends from fitness ridge but I know they are working hard, making me proud back in Utah. And to the Ridge staff that is reading this nice collapse by your BYU boys here in Vegas saturday. I got a little money riding on them this week vs. A&M. Betting on BYU; is this a great city or what.

We are staying at the MGM and let me just say that this place is huge. I will get plenty of exercise just trying to walk out of here. The strip view the check-in girl raved about is the front of the Bellagio, but not the fountains, just sort of part of the place. It's not as nice as the view from the canyon and my hill but Fitness Ridge doesn't come with room service and a sportsbook to go with that view.

Finally I have some issues with my hotmail account so I am switching to gmail. If you have sent an email in the last few days I have not read it sorry. Also there is a very good chance that I do not have a number of your emails. So if you are reading this please send me an email at jimgoterps@gmail.com so I can start the new process. Thanks for your help. Sorry you guys aren't out here, this is such a fun week to be in Vegas with March Madness, St Paddy's Day, Spring Break and spring time temperatures. I'm going to enjoy my little vacation but I'm looking forward to getting back to the ridge conquering the mountain and banging out 2 more weeks. Also Fitness Ridge will be briefly on Biggest Loser tomorrow night as a prize for one of the winning people on this year's show. Hope all's well in your hometown. Peace, JimmyT.

I know what girls like

"I want to turn the whole thing upside down

I'll find the things they say just can't be found

I'll share this love I find with everyone

We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs

I don't want this feeling to go away"

Jack Johnson

Who says they don't make good music anymore? The 2000's have seen an amazing renaissance of fabulous musicians making wonderful music. If you haven't made it out of the 70's or 80's do it. Embrace these fine young entertainers: Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Sara Bareilles, Dave Matthews Band, Tristan Prettyman, Jason Mraz, and Aimee Mann.

So I learned something about girls that I did not know and it is how to make them exceedingly happy. Everyone here at fitness ridge is hungry. And for 12 hundred calories they do an excellent job of making you feel full. But no matter what you call it tofu whip on grape nuts for dessert is in no way pie, just cause you add banana flavor or espresso flavor does not turn these dishes into banana cream pie or tiramisu. So after a few nights of tofu whip the dessert last night was chocolate covered strawberries. I have never seen the look of happiness come over the face of so many women simultaneously. I saw women licking plates. I saw women scraping other peoples plate. There is no doubt that even joking like you were stealing a strawberry would have resulted in you pulling back a bloody nub. The guys were happy but the girls they were over the moon. So diet desserts followed by chocolate covered strawberries will make the girls swoon, it's like diamonds only way cheaper.

A couple other notes from this week. First two Marylanders here this week, a 1999 Magruder grad and a Potomac resident with a son at Mater Dei and a daughter at Stone Ridge. The world is indeed very small. I was in Mesquite last night to watch the Terps lose again. I ended up going to sleep around 12:30 am which was a record by at least two hours since I got here. Morning sure came fast when you stay up late. The happy mountain assaulting owners were in Salt Lake this week so no extra help up the hill. I did see my first lizard this week and lots of bunnies. I have no idea why Easter is so early this year. Reading about Elliot Spitzer just makes me laugh man the harder the politicians seek to "save us from ourselves" the more likely it seems these same zealots are freaks behind closed doors.

There was a small prison break this week on Terriyaki bowl night. We headed to a little Mexican place in town but no chips, and somewhat sensible eating. Some of the staff headed down to Vegas today, not to gamble of course but to see BYU in their conference tourney. Speaking of Vegas I head there tomorrow. I will not miss my friend Mr. Mountain but I will be seeing him again for two weeks in only 7 short days. Vegas will be interesting especially when I am asleep every night at 9 pm. I will try to blog a little from Vegas but no big promises. I hope everyone has a great week. Peace, Jim

Week 4

"Monday Monday, can't trust that day,

Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be

Oh Monday Monday, how yould cou leave and not take me."

Mama's and Papa's

Week 4 day 22 14 stayover and 21 new guests. Again saturday and sunday was alot of crappy goodbyes. Really the most amazing thing about this place is the fellow campers and the feeling you get all being in the same boat. There truly is power in being part of a group when you can push some people when they need it and give the others the support and encouragement they need. There is no way I could have done this without my compatriates and I can not thank them enough. I really want to give some shout outs to my special partners. Diane and Cal have been here with me every day and they both look amazing. Rachel who was a UW Badger and left sunday was a blast to have around. NY Heather is starting week 3 and is amazing on the hill and makes me laugh. And my dukie buddy Leigh Ann is starting week 2 of 4 and already looks fabulous, and is easily the coolest dukie on the planet not named Lefty Driesell. Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

On the hill monday morning was a new personal best, a new fastest time, and a feeling that hey I have really improved. Breakfast was easily the best breakfast they serve and it is the regular monday morning breakfast. Egg beaters, two slices of turkey bacon and an english muffin. With the time change we are eating in darkness but I am happy to trade that for the extra hours of light in the evening. People are actually staying up a little later it's so much better not to see people heading to their bedrooms right after dinner.

Lunch on monday was potato/leak soup and and a boca burger burrito. Again not a boca fan at all so I picked that stuff out and and ate the rest of it. Dinner was a chicken breast and some Israeli cous-cous. First off I had no idea there was something called Israeli cous cous but it was pretty good.

Circuit training in the afternoon, stretching and some lap swimming. I went to sleep at 10 pm knowing tuesday was weigh in day

Up the hill tuesday morning no personal best for distance, much slower, but still sweaty as hell. And just for good luck I decided to wish witchy woman a good morning. I got back and did weigh in. Let me say first off that I feel like I manipulated the scale a little bit by going straight from the hill to the scale, but not enough to take the shine off the news the scale had for me. Week 3 weight loss was 15.8 lbs for a 3 week 2 day total of 41.2 lbs. Needless to say I was ecstatic.

One interesting thing going on here is a really big reality TV star is starting her second week here at the ridge. I am all about privacy so I felt compelled to not say anything about it but she has been incredibly open, super nice and said go ahead. She was the big star from a show called For Love or Money which meant nothing to me but her dad was a great NFL quarterback certainly the greatest 49er QB that predated the montana/young eras. Anyway that's enough clues if you're curious google away.

All right 4 more nights until Vegas. Part of me thinks I should just suck it up and stay here, the other 99.99% says Vegas thank heaven I can not wait. Peace, Jim

Weekend wrapup

• "So I started out for God knows where
• But I guess Ill know when I get there
• Im learning to fly but I ain't got wings
• Comin down is the hardest thing"

Tom Petty

So friday I did something I have never done before, atleast not in my adult life that I can remember. I did off road hiking into what the locals call Johnson Canyon and Jenny's Canyon. Both areas close next week for the next six months because they are mating grounds for the desert tortoise and the peregrine falcons in the area. Now before I describe the area let me say I saw neither the falcon or tortoise mating amongst themselves or with each other which would have been cool. Most of the area was formed 100's of thousands of years ago by active volcanos or if you are a Huckabee supporter two days after Adam and Eve a week or two before electricity. I had asked the guide to pick a trail where I would be less likely to die and she thought for awhile and then pondered for a little while longer and said you should be okay here but take this walkie-talkie just in case. So there is some Lava rock you climb over early on the path and the trail is fairly well marked. About a half mile in you come to what the hiker's call "exposure" but what Jimmy calls " trip and fall to your death" side of a cliff. As I am trying to decide the best course of action it occurred to me the old witch had called me not so agile, but screw her I'll show her. I stayed to left and made my way down into canyon. I was comforted by the fact that had something happened I had that walkie-talkie.

It was now I noticed some majestic looking bird circling overhead. Huge black wingspan just a circling and circling. I felt like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas with the damn helicopter that had been following him all day. Apparently a buzzard had taken an interest in the old, fat cow that had strayed from the pack, but screw him I was movin on. Into the canyon you can see where some of the pioneers had carved their names into the rock and also read of the flood of 2005 that had tore through the canyon. You can also learn that Jenny's Canyon was named for a teenager who had fallen and died in the canyon. Being about an hour into the hike, seemingly at an end and in no way wanting there to be a Jimmy's Canyon I turned around and retraced my steps out. Back at the exposure I ran into and older couple who got the part of the path nearer the ledge and a group of teenage field trippers who didn't bat an eye at the overlook. I made it back out to the road in about two hours, pulled my trusty security blanket, the walkie-talkie out to notify the guide that I could be picked up. No answer, no response, "is this thing working?", so I sat on some rocks and waited. Oh well I'm sure they would have found me in a day or two eating some raw buzzard to survive. Happily the van showed up in about 15 minutes and shuttled us back for some pool class.

Saturday was trip 3 to the Chuck-o-rama buffet and well nothing has changed same crappy food, same long line of people lining up to stick their heads in the trough and gorge. I watched the Duke-Unc basketball game last night with the dukie girl on campus who is extremely friendly and funny and almost made me root for duke for her but while she was rooting for duke I was rooting for Cameron Indoor stadium to collapse and with UNC winning and no catastrophe sadly neiter of us went to bed happy. Although I am happy that this time nest week my butt will be in Vegas. Back up the hill tomorrow, Peace, Jim

Another happening friday in Utah

"And it's run for the roses

As fast as you can

Your fate is delivered

Your moment's at hand

It's the chance of a lifetime

In a lifetime of chance"

Dan Fogelberg

I have really only known three good things to come out of Champaign, Illinois, which as far as college towns go may be the most ugly crappy excuse for a college town as has ever existed. Those three things are REO Speedwagon, uber-thoroughbred vet Scot Waterman, and of course singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg who sadly passed away this past year. You probably know Dan for his sappy radio played love songs but this guy turned out one of the greatest double albums ever recorded called The Innocent Age. I can not recommend this cd enough and one of the tunes off that cd was the Kentucky Derby ode run for the roses. Now I was going to wax poetic about the greatest horse to ever look through a bridle, the immortal Secretariat. But instead I'll just ask you how many speed records that existed 40 years ago do you know that still exist. Well big red has two of all sports greatest speed records the fastest Kentucky Derby of all time and the fastest Belmont Stakes of all time and no one is getting close still.

Day 19 at Fitness Ridge began as pretty much every day before it 35 sore, tired people sitting around a breakfast table. Today's breakfast was either oatmeal or tile grout I'm not sure. I opted for the toast which came with something that looked like peanut butter but which our good friends at JIF would point out contained no peanuts.

There is a certain amount of joy that settles in when you climb into the van after completing the morning hike. You know you just burned a ton of calories, you know you just did something you couldn't do two weeks ago, you know it's over for today. Well all those feelings can disappear when as you head up the mountain to pick up some more hikers you see the lovely owners of fitness ridge and their strollers blocking the road. Like a man who just left a five hour happy hour approaching a dui checkpoint you pretty much accept your fate, that you are screwed. "out of the van" and lets do a little more hill, cause climbing this hill is fun. It's 2008 there really should be personal jet packs for this kinda thing.

Thursday afternoon is treading class and treading class beats me up and makes me sweat like nothing else. Like I said before it is interval sprint training. Some people(me) do the treadmill others recumbent bikes or elliptical machines. Now I don't like to say bad things about my fellow campers, but the people on the bikes when they finish look like they just rode around the block and the people on the treadmills look like someone took them out back and sprayed them with a hose. The sweat pools at my feet and sprays off me like a squirt gun, and all I can think is those people on the bikes are laughing at me.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend, don't forget to turn those clocks ahead, spring is just around the corner although that corner may just be a few miles down the road. peace, Jim

And the wind cries Mary

"Who's tripping down the streets of the city

Smilin' at everybody she sees

Who's reachin' out to capture a moment

Everyone knows it's Windy"

The Association

Today was WINDY, so windy that you actually felt like you might
blow off the mountain. The canyon had 30-40 mph gusts and sustained winds in the 20's with temperatures in the 40's. There were quite a few people unprepared for the morning walk. But being hardy and wise and from Wisconsin you just know that wasn't the case with me, I mean unless you consider the fact I was the only person on the hike in shorts. The good news was the cold wind made my legs so numb I couldn't feel the shin splint that has been bothering me since the weekend. The bad news was they cancelled pool class. I spent that hour in the hot tub which is just pure bliss after a cold hike.

Afternoon was circuit training and as I have stated before it's
two minutes on a cardio machine and then two minutes on a weight lifting
machine. Anyway, let me give you a small piece of advice if you ever take
a circuit class. Never pick the spot that follows the sweatiest guy in the
class, because every machine you're on will have a nice sheen on it from
sweaty guys persperation. Now this is not really an issue for me because
I'm usually the sweatiest guy in the class, but today I drew the slot behind a guy that sweated like a Republican senator in an airport
bathroom. So the best thing you can do after you figure out you have
this spot is start looking to see where there is another opening in the
rotation, get some water, and sort of wander into the new spot "by
mistake."

I wish I had something new and exciting to tell you, Lunch
was the lettuce wraps (see week one) dinner was the terriyaki bowl( see week 2) breakfast was eggs and raisin toast(see week one and 2). Tomorrow is "pizza" and salmon burgers. I have really stopped trying to figure out what is in the heads of the democratic voters in this country or how the people in Vermont are so different than those in Rhode Island or the people of Wisconsin are so different than the people of Ohio. Anyway I hope it's warm where you are and give your pets some extra love 'cause I sure miss mine. Peace, Jim

One Turkey down

" 'cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run"

Bruuuuuce

So the question I keep being asked is how much weight have you lost well the total weight lost has been 11.7934016 kilograms, or the weight of the world record flounder or the weight of the turkey served at President Roosevelt's 1908 Thanksgiving dinner. For those of you too lazy to google some of those things and translate that into pounds the answer is 26 lbs. It's a pretty good number I am happy with the progress and hope that the next two weeks get me over 40 before heading to Vegas and my goal for Vegas is 3-5lbs for the week. No buffets, no Capriotti's cheesesteaks, nothing fried, maybe a little red meat as I have not sniffed any since arriving here but not the 20 oz prime rib. A number of people have felt obliged to tell me Brett Farve has decided to retire today, good for Brett, I hope he enjoys life on the other side and for sure he is and will always be the biggest hero ever for the people of Wisconsin. Breakfast was the pancakes which meant just toast for me and lunch was the turkey sandwich and cous-cous soup. The food is starting to get a little repetitive and seems more structured to give the one weekers a full array of tasty 1200 calorie days, the problem for us long termers is that means tuesday is turkey sandwich, thursday is pizza, saturday hummus(blech) but as I have told many there's nothing I haven't eaten in my life so structure and routine and no second helpings is working so far. Have a nice day. peace Jim

On to week 3

"Although I search myself, its always someone else I see

Id just allow a fragment of your life to wander free

Cause losing everything is like the sun going down on me"

Elton John

I'm going to wrap up a few loose ends from the weekend for you before we move on to week 3. First off if you want to be rich build yourself a chuck-o-rama. Apparently getting people skinny is good business, getting them fat is great business. This place had a line out there door on saturday at 5 pm. They get 11 bucks a person for mediocre food but it's all you can eat and people thinks it's a great bargain. Sunday was really sad saying goodbye to some of the people who had been with me for two whole weeks. You really wonder if these people who you struggled together with will ever be in your life in a meaningful way again. Anyway special thanks to Stella's parents for they made my two weeks much more fun. My only mention of Maryland's total fiasco sunday night will be to say that I would rank it in my top 5 most disappointing sporting events ever. It hurt and I can't stop thinking about it. I missed orientation and meeting the new group to watch it and as if by divine intevention the first thing I see this morning is a new girl sporting duke shorts. Atleast she turned out to be a real fan and not some sort of fashion statement dukie.

Week 3 began with my favorite breakfast they serve here. Eggs, a bagel and some turkey bacon . On the bus to the hill for my 13th trip up the hill, i felt pretty good but still pretty sore.. I will say that the improvement from day one is a good feeling. The actual walk is still a painful experience. I made it up to west galoot which I know means nothing to many of you guys, but it gives me a chance to tell you that Galoot got its name from John Wayne who filmed a couple westerns on the hill at that spot. The wild life is starting to be more prevalent as spring approaches mostly bunnies so far but they say the rattlesnakes should be waking up anytime so that should help with my speed. Speaking of speed I heard someone made it up the hill in 45 minutes today. That's impressive and scary.

I really can not complain about the weather here especially with what many of you are going through but damn it was windy and cold last night. So windy it blew the cover off the pool and the water ended up being about 72 degrees today. My nipples were not happy and it was too cold to do laps after circuit class. The best thing about circuit class was I ended up on a treadmill next to Chef Cameron who has delivered time and time again with excellent food. I mentioned that I felt sorry for the anorexic chickens who had been sacrificing their tiny boobs for us and he hooked me up tonite with a decent sized breast. Not Morton's mind you, but I was happy to pick up that extra 1/2 ounce of protein.

Thought I would give you a little Elton today as his music was the music of choice for today's walk. Not to mention I get to see Jacky two weeks from tonite( I can not wait) and we will be seeing Sir Elton at Caesar's Palace that week. It's been about 20 years since my last Elton show and I am excited because when it comes to producing hits in the last four decades Elton is virtually unmatched in his ability to have big hits in each decade. The man is a true genius and has lived his life without compromising his beliefs and has seemingly found happiness by embracing who he is. I salute his courage but mostly his great, great music.

2 down 4 to go

"Saturday in the Park

I think it was the fourth of July"

Chicago

I woke up saturday morning around 4 am and swore to myself, "I am not walking up that God damn mountain today." So as I layed in bed I tried to come up with legit excuses that people would buy so that I could get out of it. My Achilles is sore (not really) but who is going to question something as specific as an achilles injury.... good planning. Or I could say I was sick. I have been hacking up a storm the last couple days. No No I'll say I am going into town to walk somewhere else to test myself on flat surfaces. I went with that plan. And as I shared that plan I started to feel a little bad so I talked myself into getting on the van and going to the top and walking down. Not as tough and I would just meander a bit. All right that's the plan. I began the descent and forgot that this was a whole different set of muscles and way of walking. This was all right, it was a beautiful morning, there were quite a few more weekenders on the path who like to stop and talk, and I had Tom Petty cranking on the ipod. So about halfway down I am sitting on a bench, minding my own business, when I hear the sound that strikes fear in my heart, a family with young kids coming up the trail. I know damn well it's the happy, smiling owner, his prego wife and their 3 kids plus whatever relatives and neighbors pushing strollers they have roped in to their perpetual assault on this hill. I'm screwed with nowhere to hide. Next thing I know I am heading up the hill with the merry band of mormon gypsies. UGH!! but atleast they eventually cut me loose and let me head back down.

Now that I had done all that I convinced myself, well I am taking the afternoon off and watching some hoops before heading to the chuck-o-rama for dinner with the rest of the campers. That really only meant blowing off circuit training at 2 pm. So as I was laying around watching Marquette Gtown getting ready to go to overtime, the phone rang in my room. That was weird a whole week and the phone has never rung in my room I figure it must be housekeeping seeing if I need towels. Hello " Hi Jim, we're holding circuit training up til you get here see you in five minutes" Fuck me~ put my socks on head down there's like 10 people in the class. where are the other 25 people and did they get calls? treadmill/biceps/treadmill/triceps/treadmill/shoulders/treadmill/quads/treadmill/calfs/

treadmill/ hamstrings/treadmill/glutes/ treadmill/lats/treadmill/chest/treadmill/back/treadmill/abs/treadmill/more abs.

Atleast I got them to turn the Gtown game on the TV. However watching them get fouled shooting a three with 2 seconds left and then making the three free throws and winning in overtime was depressing as was then watching UNC come back from 18 down to beat BC and seeing the highlights of Duke rallying to win.

So let's recap down and up the mountain, circuit training, unc and gtown and duke get ridiculous come back wins...It's just another saturday in the park for Jim. Peace!!