Measuring Achievments

Life doesn't wait for us to get it right, day after night,
It just goes on, when it goes wrong it goes and then it's gone
So I'm going to do my best to make the most of it, avoid regrets

Take a breath, realize, time is irreversible,
This aint no dress rehearsal

Carolyn Dawn Johnson

For those of you reading this that attended the Ridge back in the pre-biggest loser days I thought you may enjoy this picture of what the Monday morning stop sign hike now looks like. Between the campers and the guides I think we put close to 80 people on the trail. A far cry from back in the day when 20 was a big number. Speaking of back in the day It has now been exactly two years since I walked onto the Fitness Ridge campus for the first time.



This my friend Joyce, She has been at the Ridge for I believe 18 weeks and we walked together on the stop sign hike on monday. It was the coldest day since I have been here and just for fun the rain from the night before had frozen in a few spots on the trail. It was a nasty walk. And when we got to the small stop sign and started to head up I decided to talk Joyce into climbing up Galoot rock. 18 weeks and her first off road climbing adventure, I was happy to be there when she reached the summit. So I did not do the full stop sign hike but I felt awfully good that I could share a new experience with a fellow camper. Not all achievements are measured against the stopwatch heading up the hill and in fact it is much better and rewarding to measure them by the smiles they produce and the satisfaction they create.

Tami one of the principal owners of the Ridge has been hiking and doing classes all week and joined us for the hike monday. And for the record it was the first time I broke out the sweatpants for a walk up the hill. One thing about getting so many pictures with girls is I almost always look really tall :)

Here's a picture of Suzy Hoover from season two of the Biggest Loser. Not only is her sweatshirt funny and appropriate she is extremely funny and friendly as are most of the people here. Speaking of shutting up and sweating I guess I may have felt a little guilty for not pushing myself that hard in the morning or perhaps it is that I am an idiot but I did 500 single arm 12 lb medicine ball sit-ups on Monday afternoon. My last personal best was 300 and my abs are feeling way sore today. I swear there is a six pack in there somewhere.

Tuesday I got into the pool that hosts the swim for the triathlon. It was a little cooler than I expected but not too bad. I banged out the whole swim without much of a problem. Need to work on my turns and improving my speed. Knocked out 4.1 miles on the treadmill in the afternoon. I feel pretty good, a little sore, but no major aches. I do have an unusual craving for lobster for some reason. I believe this stems from the tales of joy in Vegas I have been hearing from some of my fellow campers. Shout out to Marissa from Southern Virginia for today's blog song. She has been here two separate times while I have been here but sadly not this trip. And she was my personal water mule on many of my big hikes last fall hauling my water bottle up the hill for me. Hope everyone's day is warm and dry. Peace, Jim