Day One, Ya

Let's go crazy
Let's get nuts
Look 4 the purple banana
'Til they put us in the truck, let's go!

C'mon baby
Let's get nuts
Yeah
Crazy

Let's go crazy

Prince

It's Minnesota week here on the blog as I have holed up in Twin Harbors, Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior. The first time I have ever seen the largest fresh water lake in the world. And this being Minnesota week well we have two very notable Minnesota musicians to choose from. I think some of you may be surprised by who I chose first. But the purple bedecked little man who parties like it's 1999 got my vote as the most emblematic of the state.



Sunrise came early over Lake Superior, but not as early as my alarm. I was the last one up at 5:35 am. We were out the door and on the path by 6:05. A little 3.4 mile warm-up to your day and one that will be repeated every am this week. So essentially a 5K morning race. I can remember finishing my 5K's and being prepared for the day off. Amazing views on this hike. I will give you some more pictures of this hike tomorrow tomorrow. We had finished by 7:15 and were back at the resort and in the pool for pool class by 7:30. Pool was not a floating on noodles class. It was a serious circuit workout with deck pushups and lunges. I was officially whipped and it was around 8:15. Breakfast was thankfully next on the agenda. Kashi cereal and almond milk and blueberries.. Not much rest for the weary though as next class was at 9:30 and it was a serious workout.

We started with a half hour of core work, including 5 different types of crunches, and sit-ups. Finished that section with some plank work. I have a sore elbow from that. That was only the beginning of the fun. Next up a 12 station cross-circuit training rotation. And we got to run this group three full times for 36 total stations. It was full body with today's concentration on upper body.






We used bands, medicine balls, jump ropes, boxing gloves, and the floor to pretty much beat me up. After the first run through I was like I can do this, 2nd run through it started to hurt and 3rd run through was me gasping and bending over and staring at the clock.








My least favorite station... Running the stairs. How is this upper body? The only people that had it worse than us were the couple eating on the deck that got to stare at us each time we came up....Which was a bunch.

It was actually fun and I much preferred it to the steady drone of a treadmill. And they made it something you could replicate at home. And they made me sweat through my second hat and second shirt of the day.









That ended and I was pretty sure we were done....I was mistaken. The cones came out and we spent the next 30 minutes running suicides on the floor, just like back in high-school basketball. Sprint down touch the floor, go further repeat, and then go further and repeat. And that was the easy one. The second 5 set trip included 20lb kettle bells in our hands.You can catch me in a familiar pose in the back of this picture. We stretched after this and called it a morning. I was beat and ready to call it a day or two days.





After Lunch we headed to Gooseberry Falls State Park. And there we hiked through much of the park, up steps, over bridges, down steps and then back up those same steps. We split into 4 different groups so that each person could hike at their best pace. Mine was slowly heading towards crawling. The falls were not running at their spring thaw speed by any stretch but they were still magnificent. Pretty much everything from the hips down hurt on both legs. Thankfully my guide showed a wee bit of pity on me and called it a day for me 15 minutes before 4pm. Spent, sweaty...again, and happy that the work part of the day was done. I am too tired to even walk to the hot tub. I'm not sure what time you are supposed to go to bed to get enough sleep to be fresh at 5:30 am but it's not midnight like last night.


There are 5 campers here this week. Lots of personal attention. I believe they currently max out at 18 campers and are expecting full crowds this fall. And not too surprising I am the only guy.

It was a great first day. I am exhausted as I should be. Excited to see just how much I can do. And simply mesmerized by the beauty that surrounds me. It's is so exciting to find a new place you have never seen before and love it... A friend answered a question this week with Let's not go crazy.... I don't like that answer...Let's go crazy, run those numbers up, see new things and go to exciting new places. Peace, Love and Superior times, Jim