Mutuel of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

Never seen eyes so blue

I could not run away

It seemed we'd seen each other in a dream

"You don't have to love me yet

Let's get high awhile

But try to understand

Try to understand

Try try try to understand

I'm a magic man."

Heart

Three weeks in the book and 4 more to go. The weather has been magnificent this week. Slightly cooler in the mornings for the hikes, sunny, blue skies, like Madison in the summer which sadly has now become fall.

People who have been at the ridge for more than two weeks now get a free lunch at a local restaurant. On Wednesday we ventured out to Ruby Tuesday's with a free pass to order whatever we wanted :) As long as you could stand the watchful eye and discerning look of Paige who "suggested" we keep it under 500 calories. Easier said than done. This eliminated, oh about 93% of the menu. Including healthy options like the turkey burger (890 calories) the chicken clubhouse salad (840 calories) and the ultimate chicken sandwich ( a mere 1161 calories). I ended up with the salad bar and a cup of chicken chili, still damn close to 500 calories if not slightly over. There was a lot of grilled chicken and broccoli, and one crab cake and broccoli floating around our table. It was an eye opener to say the least. And probably the greatest lesson of the day was eating out just can not be a common experience if you want to control your intake. The calorie levels are just too high, the temptation just too great, and the likelihood of eating way more calories than you think too prevalent. The ridge is really trying hard to give multi-weekers more outings and more real world experience during their stays. It is a welcome addition to the program. Besides being fun to get out with your fellow campers it gives you an excellent opportunity to practice life outside the fitness ridge bubble. Because surviving and prospering when your stay is over is truly the goal of everyone, and being better prepared to do that is the most important thing you can take away from your visit to the Ridge.




It was animal week at the Ridge!! Well at least for me. You do get an opportunity on the hikes to see a bunch of animals. Mostly rabbits, but also some chipmunks, huge eagles and hawks, the very rare dessert tortoise, geckos and lizards,and of course the occasional slithering serpent. Although 16 weeks in and I have never seen a snake.








Here's me and Rachel Alexandra. No wait it was actually Silver, Chip and Zorro. Now I'm no horse whisperer but I sort of could sense that these three horses were all thinking "Dear God please tell me that the big fella in the tie-dye is not actually thinking of climbing on my back." I have way too much respect for my four legged friends to do that and I'm still a few pounds over jockey weight so I just opted for the photo op standing with this 3-pack.





There are so many ways to exercise. And killing yourself on the treadmill, or agonizing up the mountain, while effective, don't fall under my definition of fun. Hitting the volleyball in the sand surrounded by amazing landscape, with an awesome player, whose name I will spell correctly this time Kami, is so much fun and I am sweaty as can be, and bent over from an hour of this. I know I sound like a broken record when I stress this. Having fun while working out has been greatly responsible for me maintaining and improving on the progress I make while at the Ridge. Thanks again to Kami and Cindy who joined in this week.

Week 4 starts for me Monday. It will be slightly abbreviated as I fly home Thursday evening for a much needed trip to see my girls. A month is very long time to be away from the ones I love dearly and I can't wait to see them. I fly back Sunday for 3 more weeks. I hope everyone has an awesome weekend. Peace from the Utah sand, Jim