Let's go to the Ridge

You call me a mountain

And I call you the sea

I'll stand tall and certain, and watch you swallow me

You can move me, if you want to

You can move a mountain

You can move a mountain

You can move me, if you want to

You can move everything

You can move everything

Ingrid Michaelson

Greetings from Vegas. Sunday will mark my fourth trip to Fitness ridge in the last 18 months. It will be my longest stay and I am looking to kickoff a really productive year. At the sunday night orientation people usually stand up and introduce themselves and tell where they are from. Veterans give a little talk and advice to the newbies. I pretty much always tell one of two stories. The first story tells how I was so excited to have lost 50lbs in my first trip to the ridge. I couldn't wait to get home and show off to everyone. However, much to my chagrin the only thing people noticed was just how tan I was. And how I thought hell if it was a tan I was after I could gone a really fabulous cruise for less money. But I'm back now and really hoping to come home with a reallybitchin tan to impress my friends this time.

More recently I have preferred to talk about the reasons people are at the ridge. Everyone is there for a reason, be it to lose weight, try to get fitter, work on food issues, because they love hiking, or just because their idea of fun is a really active vacation and I stress that no matter why you are there you are there for the right reason. And that in no way should you have any shame that you choose to spend time at the ridge. And how the people there are a resource to help you when you need someone to lean on but more importantly your friends and family at home want to be there for you. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Be proud of what you're doing and the people that love you will embrace your philosophy and be a huge asset to you when you get back into the real world.

So why do I tell this story to you guys today? I want this to be a great year for me, and I need my friends to help me and motivate me and push me and stop me when I am making mistakes. I want you to work out with me, I want you ask how I am doing and I want you to continue to be such an important part of my life. But you guys know me I would never ask for something without offering something back. So I want to make this offer to anyone who reads the blog, anyone who knows me, anyone who has ever been to the ridge, or basically anyone who wants to take a shot.

My goal for the next year is to lose 100lbs. I have had such an outpouring of support from my friends and from the people at the ridge that I want to thank you and keep you on my back so here we go:

CONTEST

I am going to pay for one of you to go to Fitness ridge next year for a week. And I am going to hold a contest to see who it's going to be. All you need to do is guess who much weight you think I am going to lose or God forbid gain :) between Sunday August 30th when I weigh in and my birthday September 10th, 2010. You can email me your selection ( jimgoterps@gmail.com) , you can leave it in a comment, you can text it, you can phone it in. I don't care how you make your selection.


The person who comes closest without going over (price is right rules) gets the week. You're on your own for travel. If you win and don't really want to go or you want to donate it someone who can use it, let me know and I will see that your week is awarded to the camper that I have met and whom I think is most deserving. I have had a lot of people step up to help me and it's time for me to pay it forward. No one can have a duplicate number, so that the first person in gets that number and I will move the next person to the closest available number up or down from their original choice. And because it's Price is Right rules I will be very disappointed if someone doesn't bid a dollar. You're not going to humiliate me by picking a low number, and for goodness sakes don't flatter me by picking high because you're throwing away your pick. In fact since I am in Vegas I asked the sportsbook to set a line and he made the under 100 a 4-1 favorite to win. I realize 99% of the people that start with this type of goal don't get there and that is why I am asking for your help. You have until September 10th to submit your pick. Good Luck to everybody. I am giving my blog readers first shot at their numbers before I pass this on to my facebook friends and email buddies.

Now before you make your choice let me give you some stuff to think about:

1) I love food

2) I will be at the ridge for 7 weeks and then most likely a month in the spring

3) When winter comes and it snows for the first time I tend to get so depressed that I hook a few pizzas up to an IV drip and watch sports on my couch til the thaw.

4) I have a really good workout partner and I will be playing a bunch of volleyball indoors this winter

5) I'll be in Vegas for March Madness this year and that is usually good for about a pound for every white stiff on the end of Duke's bench and that's a big number.

6) Did I mention I love food?

7) I have started running and jumping and jogging and doing things I wasn't sure I would be doing again

8) I don't do well under pressure and by doing this I am ratcheting up the pressure tenfold

9) I would like to delude myself into believing I thrive under pressure on the Volleyball sand where my teams won the regular season Monday, Wednesday and Sunday and picked up the tournament win on Sunday and Wednesday as well.

10) Have I mentioned I have this love affair with food?

11) I have an amazing group of friends whom I love dearly and the support I receive from them and the Ridge is so valuable to me.

12) According to the USA Today there is like a 97% chance I get Swine Flu and die this winter in which case the person picking the highest number would win but have a damn hard time collecting.

So choose wisely and best of Luck to all of you.

I know that the management at Fitness Ridge checks in on this blog and they are such wonderful, giving people that I just know that they would offer to sponsor this, but that's not what I want. I want this to come out of my pocket. I want this to be a gift from me to my friends. I will, however, let that match it if they want :) and will, of course, let anyone match it if they want. But I am no way fishing for that.... Maybe a little :)

Since this will be one of my most read entries let me remind everyone that Sunshine Daydream is hosting an amazing weekend of music and fun October 23rd and 24th. The highlight being the Ingrid Michaelson show we are sponsoring on the 24th. We have a fabulous party on the 23rd to raise money for a cool old theater in Madison and have two fun bands to showcase that night. We will have an auction and raffle for lots of fun prizes. And we also have Ingrid Michaelson coming to the store to do an appearance and sing some songs.I really encourage everyone to come out that weekend. When I posted the event on facebook my wife asked me if I was insane and did I really just invite all my out of town friends to crash with us? I said sorry honey. So when she asks me if I just invited all my blog readers to crash with us that weekend. I'll just smile and say hell yeah the more the merrier. Peace, love, and I lose you win, Jim