Power Play

My room feels wrong

The bed won't fit

I cannot seem to operate

And you, my love, are gone

So glide away on soapy heels

And promise not to promise anymore

And if you come around again

Then I will take, then I will take the chain from off the door

Ingrid Michaelson

I fell asleep last night at around 10:30 and woke up about midnight sweating and missing the happiness that my trusty fan blows at me augmented by the ceiling fan and of course all in support of the wonderful hum of the A.C. which was sadly silent. I also noticed it was damn dark in the room. The power was out and would not return until around 5 am, or just in time for me fall asleep for about an hour before heading to the van. I can promise you if I had been awake from midnight to 5 am at home the only place I would be heading at 6am is to the other side of the pillow. But at the ridge you don't have that option and it was out to hike, with a morning lecture, pool class, indoor triathlon, ball works class, treading intervals on the treadmill for 50 minutes, a stretch class, dinner and a night lecture. No time for that nap, and now I get to stay awake and watch opening night of college football. Tomorrow is our weigh in for the Battle of the Bulge competition and I will hang up a good number:)

Here is my Battle of the Bulge team....Go Big Red!! We stumbled out of the gate in the calorie guess, had some issues on the obstacle course, but today put it all together and demolished the blue team in the triathlon which included, like most triathlons swimming running and biking. But also had anatomy and health questions. We picked up pedometers from the Ridge. You guys know I am all about competition and this built a lot of camaraderie with everyone cheering on their teammates and competitors. I would love to see the Ridge incorporate more stuff like this into the program.




Today's lunch was something new and really delicious. Grilled chicken Caesar salad. Amazing the amount of food, excellent taste, and presentation for under 300 calories. I can ingest 300 calories just walking into most places sering a chicken Caesar with 3 times the calories











A couple shots from kickboxing class. I really used to be afraid of these classes. But not only are they great workouts they really are fun. I'm way better at the boxing part than the kicking part but I do what I can. You work your upper body, you work your lower body and you sweat, well at least I really sweat.

Dropping a right jab on the girl next to me :)

I'll leave you with this shot of sunrise over the red rocks. 4 days in and I feel way better than I did on Tuesday. I have been using lots of Ingrid Michaelson quotes this week. She has a fabulous new cd Everybody. Download it, buy a hard copy, whatever just get it. And don't forget to come see her in Madison the weekend of the 23rd of October. Peace, Love and beautiful sunrises, Jim