One week Down

"It's a beautiful mornin',

Ahhh,Each bird keeps singin' his own song.

So long!I've got to be on my way, now.

Ain't no fun just hangin' around,

I've got to cover ground, you couldn't keep me down.

It just ain't no good if the sun shines

When you're still inside"

The Rascals

It's Saturday here in Southern Utah. I just completed day six on the mountain. I believe we had 38 campers this week. I think 10 went to Zion national park, maybe six were leaving today, and 13 went to the stop sign. By my count that leaves 9 or so that "slept in." It will be hard to say goodbye to many of the campers tomorrow. I like this weeks group so much I have agreed to go to Chuckarama today which I swore I would never do again. Before I give some shout outs I will wrap up this week.






Here's the french toast. It's a pretty good breakfast. No syrup I believe it is applesauce on top. I am not a breakfast guy, well at least not a healthy breakfast guy, but Thursday we had an unbelievable fritata. I have got to give it a 5 star rating and easily the best breakfast of the week. Other food highlights or low lights. Boca Burgers are inedible. Last night I had a tomato, pickle, lettuce and mustard sandwich for dinner. Chicken Terriyaki bowl was okay but I do not get chopsticks. If they are better than forks why don't we use them for every meal. And why just use them for Asian meals. You never see anyone break out the chopsticks for a burrito or spaghetti.

We had a great guest speaker at the Ridge this week Jeff Kovick who is a nutritionist and ran Pritikin Center for over ten years. I thought last Sunday that there was a 90% chance there was no way I would like this guy but he proved me way wrong. He was affable, intelligent, engaging and a deadhead. So here's a quick quiz. How many calories in an entire can of PAM spray. It says 0 calories right on the front of the can? 1200 calories, same goes for "I cant believe it's not butter" A couple other gems. Throw out your Olive Oil, stop eating french fries( the number one eaten food for women, and second for men), the French, The Greeks, and every other country that is supposed to be so healthy is just getting obese like us, and It is all about calories. Also a very special thanks to Jeff for standing at the base of the workout bench and catching the medicine ball while I did 400 sit-ups yesterday.

A couple exercise notes. This weeks group was amazing I think at least 15 people picked up the shirt for attending every class, open gym, lecture and meal. I hiked 6 days, did 10 circuits, 2 high intensity interval trainings, 100's of laps in the pool, 5 pool aerobic classes, and at least 1000 sit ups. A pretty good start. I have been on the scale so I know it's working this week, but no official weigh in til next weekend. Speaking of next weekend I have a Friday night ticket to see Barry Manilow in concert in Vegas. Should be fun with that and opening weekend for NFL football.

A couple of shout outs for this week. Thanks to all the hiking guides. These girls/ladies are just amazing and in the most amazing shape imaginable. They have been so accommodating, so supportive and and just friendly faces to see every morning at 6:15 am. Special thanks to Maria, Cindy, Sandy, Annie and Deb( who completed a 50 mile race this summer in 6 hours and has me by 20 years) I will miss a number of this weeks campers. Thanks to Janice for playing volleyball with me in the pool, thanks to Gail for saying really nice things about my blog, thanks to the "wicked cool" Boston sisters DK and Trish.

Thanks to Adriana and Nancy. Nancy from Harrisburg, PA arranged game night, actually thought my music taste was okay, and did an extra Circuit training class one night with Eric and I. She leaves this week and will be missed. Adriana is here for the long haul, 8 weeks and has traveled from Puerto Rico. She makes me laugh, has never heard of James Taylor and is extremely brave for taking the 8 week challenge. Best of luck to her and to every one going home this week. I get to sleep past 5:45 tomorrow. That will make me happy. Peace, Jim