Week 4

"Monday Monday, can't trust that day,

Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be

Oh Monday Monday, how yould cou leave and not take me."

Mama's and Papa's

Week 4 day 22 14 stayover and 21 new guests. Again saturday and sunday was alot of crappy goodbyes. Really the most amazing thing about this place is the fellow campers and the feeling you get all being in the same boat. There truly is power in being part of a group when you can push some people when they need it and give the others the support and encouragement they need. There is no way I could have done this without my compatriates and I can not thank them enough. I really want to give some shout outs to my special partners. Diane and Cal have been here with me every day and they both look amazing. Rachel who was a UW Badger and left sunday was a blast to have around. NY Heather is starting week 3 and is amazing on the hill and makes me laugh. And my dukie buddy Leigh Ann is starting week 2 of 4 and already looks fabulous, and is easily the coolest dukie on the planet not named Lefty Driesell. Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

On the hill monday morning was a new personal best, a new fastest time, and a feeling that hey I have really improved. Breakfast was easily the best breakfast they serve and it is the regular monday morning breakfast. Egg beaters, two slices of turkey bacon and an english muffin. With the time change we are eating in darkness but I am happy to trade that for the extra hours of light in the evening. People are actually staying up a little later it's so much better not to see people heading to their bedrooms right after dinner.

Lunch on monday was potato/leak soup and and a boca burger burrito. Again not a boca fan at all so I picked that stuff out and and ate the rest of it. Dinner was a chicken breast and some Israeli cous-cous. First off I had no idea there was something called Israeli cous cous but it was pretty good.

Circuit training in the afternoon, stretching and some lap swimming. I went to sleep at 10 pm knowing tuesday was weigh in day

Up the hill tuesday morning no personal best for distance, much slower, but still sweaty as hell. And just for good luck I decided to wish witchy woman a good morning. I got back and did weigh in. Let me say first off that I feel like I manipulated the scale a little bit by going straight from the hill to the scale, but not enough to take the shine off the news the scale had for me. Week 3 weight loss was 15.8 lbs for a 3 week 2 day total of 41.2 lbs. Needless to say I was ecstatic.

One interesting thing going on here is a really big reality TV star is starting her second week here at the ridge. I am all about privacy so I felt compelled to not say anything about it but she has been incredibly open, super nice and said go ahead. She was the big star from a show called For Love or Money which meant nothing to me but her dad was a great NFL quarterback certainly the greatest 49er QB that predated the montana/young eras. Anyway that's enough clues if you're curious google away.

All right 4 more nights until Vegas. Part of me thinks I should just suck it up and stay here, the other 99.99% says Vegas thank heaven I can not wait. Peace, Jim

Weekend wrapup

• "So I started out for God knows where
• But I guess Ill know when I get there
• Im learning to fly but I ain't got wings
• Comin down is the hardest thing"

Tom Petty

So friday I did something I have never done before, atleast not in my adult life that I can remember. I did off road hiking into what the locals call Johnson Canyon and Jenny's Canyon. Both areas close next week for the next six months because they are mating grounds for the desert tortoise and the peregrine falcons in the area. Now before I describe the area let me say I saw neither the falcon or tortoise mating amongst themselves or with each other which would have been cool. Most of the area was formed 100's of thousands of years ago by active volcanos or if you are a Huckabee supporter two days after Adam and Eve a week or two before electricity. I had asked the guide to pick a trail where I would be less likely to die and she thought for awhile and then pondered for a little while longer and said you should be okay here but take this walkie-talkie just in case. So there is some Lava rock you climb over early on the path and the trail is fairly well marked. About a half mile in you come to what the hiker's call "exposure" but what Jimmy calls " trip and fall to your death" side of a cliff. As I am trying to decide the best course of action it occurred to me the old witch had called me not so agile, but screw her I'll show her. I stayed to left and made my way down into canyon. I was comforted by the fact that had something happened I had that walkie-talkie.

It was now I noticed some majestic looking bird circling overhead. Huge black wingspan just a circling and circling. I felt like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas with the damn helicopter that had been following him all day. Apparently a buzzard had taken an interest in the old, fat cow that had strayed from the pack, but screw him I was movin on. Into the canyon you can see where some of the pioneers had carved their names into the rock and also read of the flood of 2005 that had tore through the canyon. You can also learn that Jenny's Canyon was named for a teenager who had fallen and died in the canyon. Being about an hour into the hike, seemingly at an end and in no way wanting there to be a Jimmy's Canyon I turned around and retraced my steps out. Back at the exposure I ran into and older couple who got the part of the path nearer the ledge and a group of teenage field trippers who didn't bat an eye at the overlook. I made it back out to the road in about two hours, pulled my trusty security blanket, the walkie-talkie out to notify the guide that I could be picked up. No answer, no response, "is this thing working?", so I sat on some rocks and waited. Oh well I'm sure they would have found me in a day or two eating some raw buzzard to survive. Happily the van showed up in about 15 minutes and shuttled us back for some pool class.

Saturday was trip 3 to the Chuck-o-rama buffet and well nothing has changed same crappy food, same long line of people lining up to stick their heads in the trough and gorge. I watched the Duke-Unc basketball game last night with the dukie girl on campus who is extremely friendly and funny and almost made me root for duke for her but while she was rooting for duke I was rooting for Cameron Indoor stadium to collapse and with UNC winning and no catastrophe sadly neiter of us went to bed happy. Although I am happy that this time nest week my butt will be in Vegas. Back up the hill tomorrow, Peace, Jim

Another happening friday in Utah

"And it's run for the roses

As fast as you can

Your fate is delivered

Your moment's at hand

It's the chance of a lifetime

In a lifetime of chance"

Dan Fogelberg

I have really only known three good things to come out of Champaign, Illinois, which as far as college towns go may be the most ugly crappy excuse for a college town as has ever existed. Those three things are REO Speedwagon, uber-thoroughbred vet Scot Waterman, and of course singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg who sadly passed away this past year. You probably know Dan for his sappy radio played love songs but this guy turned out one of the greatest double albums ever recorded called The Innocent Age. I can not recommend this cd enough and one of the tunes off that cd was the Kentucky Derby ode run for the roses. Now I was going to wax poetic about the greatest horse to ever look through a bridle, the immortal Secretariat. But instead I'll just ask you how many speed records that existed 40 years ago do you know that still exist. Well big red has two of all sports greatest speed records the fastest Kentucky Derby of all time and the fastest Belmont Stakes of all time and no one is getting close still.

Day 19 at Fitness Ridge began as pretty much every day before it 35 sore, tired people sitting around a breakfast table. Today's breakfast was either oatmeal or tile grout I'm not sure. I opted for the toast which came with something that looked like peanut butter but which our good friends at JIF would point out contained no peanuts.

There is a certain amount of joy that settles in when you climb into the van after completing the morning hike. You know you just burned a ton of calories, you know you just did something you couldn't do two weeks ago, you know it's over for today. Well all those feelings can disappear when as you head up the mountain to pick up some more hikers you see the lovely owners of fitness ridge and their strollers blocking the road. Like a man who just left a five hour happy hour approaching a dui checkpoint you pretty much accept your fate, that you are screwed. "out of the van" and lets do a little more hill, cause climbing this hill is fun. It's 2008 there really should be personal jet packs for this kinda thing.

Thursday afternoon is treading class and treading class beats me up and makes me sweat like nothing else. Like I said before it is interval sprint training. Some people(me) do the treadmill others recumbent bikes or elliptical machines. Now I don't like to say bad things about my fellow campers, but the people on the bikes when they finish look like they just rode around the block and the people on the treadmills look like someone took them out back and sprayed them with a hose. The sweat pools at my feet and sprays off me like a squirt gun, and all I can think is those people on the bikes are laughing at me.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend, don't forget to turn those clocks ahead, spring is just around the corner although that corner may just be a few miles down the road. peace, Jim

And the wind cries Mary

"Who's tripping down the streets of the city

Smilin' at everybody she sees

Who's reachin' out to capture a moment

Everyone knows it's Windy"

The Association

Today was WINDY, so windy that you actually felt like you might
blow off the mountain. The canyon had 30-40 mph gusts and sustained winds in the 20's with temperatures in the 40's. There were quite a few people unprepared for the morning walk. But being hardy and wise and from Wisconsin you just know that wasn't the case with me, I mean unless you consider the fact I was the only person on the hike in shorts. The good news was the cold wind made my legs so numb I couldn't feel the shin splint that has been bothering me since the weekend. The bad news was they cancelled pool class. I spent that hour in the hot tub which is just pure bliss after a cold hike.

Afternoon was circuit training and as I have stated before it's
two minutes on a cardio machine and then two minutes on a weight lifting
machine. Anyway, let me give you a small piece of advice if you ever take
a circuit class. Never pick the spot that follows the sweatiest guy in the
class, because every machine you're on will have a nice sheen on it from
sweaty guys persperation. Now this is not really an issue for me because
I'm usually the sweatiest guy in the class, but today I drew the slot behind a guy that sweated like a Republican senator in an airport
bathroom. So the best thing you can do after you figure out you have
this spot is start looking to see where there is another opening in the
rotation, get some water, and sort of wander into the new spot "by
mistake."

I wish I had something new and exciting to tell you, Lunch
was the lettuce wraps (see week one) dinner was the terriyaki bowl( see week 2) breakfast was eggs and raisin toast(see week one and 2). Tomorrow is "pizza" and salmon burgers. I have really stopped trying to figure out what is in the heads of the democratic voters in this country or how the people in Vermont are so different than those in Rhode Island or the people of Wisconsin are so different than the people of Ohio. Anyway I hope it's warm where you are and give your pets some extra love 'cause I sure miss mine. Peace, Jim

One Turkey down

" 'cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run"

Bruuuuuce

So the question I keep being asked is how much weight have you lost well the total weight lost has been 11.7934016 kilograms, or the weight of the world record flounder or the weight of the turkey served at President Roosevelt's 1908 Thanksgiving dinner. For those of you too lazy to google some of those things and translate that into pounds the answer is 26 lbs. It's a pretty good number I am happy with the progress and hope that the next two weeks get me over 40 before heading to Vegas and my goal for Vegas is 3-5lbs for the week. No buffets, no Capriotti's cheesesteaks, nothing fried, maybe a little red meat as I have not sniffed any since arriving here but not the 20 oz prime rib. A number of people have felt obliged to tell me Brett Farve has decided to retire today, good for Brett, I hope he enjoys life on the other side and for sure he is and will always be the biggest hero ever for the people of Wisconsin. Breakfast was the pancakes which meant just toast for me and lunch was the turkey sandwich and cous-cous soup. The food is starting to get a little repetitive and seems more structured to give the one weekers a full array of tasty 1200 calorie days, the problem for us long termers is that means tuesday is turkey sandwich, thursday is pizza, saturday hummus(blech) but as I have told many there's nothing I haven't eaten in my life so structure and routine and no second helpings is working so far. Have a nice day. peace Jim

On to week 3

"Although I search myself, its always someone else I see

Id just allow a fragment of your life to wander free

Cause losing everything is like the sun going down on me"

Elton John

I'm going to wrap up a few loose ends from the weekend for you before we move on to week 3. First off if you want to be rich build yourself a chuck-o-rama. Apparently getting people skinny is good business, getting them fat is great business. This place had a line out there door on saturday at 5 pm. They get 11 bucks a person for mediocre food but it's all you can eat and people thinks it's a great bargain. Sunday was really sad saying goodbye to some of the people who had been with me for two whole weeks. You really wonder if these people who you struggled together with will ever be in your life in a meaningful way again. Anyway special thanks to Stella's parents for they made my two weeks much more fun. My only mention of Maryland's total fiasco sunday night will be to say that I would rank it in my top 5 most disappointing sporting events ever. It hurt and I can't stop thinking about it. I missed orientation and meeting the new group to watch it and as if by divine intevention the first thing I see this morning is a new girl sporting duke shorts. Atleast she turned out to be a real fan and not some sort of fashion statement dukie.

Week 3 began with my favorite breakfast they serve here. Eggs, a bagel and some turkey bacon . On the bus to the hill for my 13th trip up the hill, i felt pretty good but still pretty sore.. I will say that the improvement from day one is a good feeling. The actual walk is still a painful experience. I made it up to west galoot which I know means nothing to many of you guys, but it gives me a chance to tell you that Galoot got its name from John Wayne who filmed a couple westerns on the hill at that spot. The wild life is starting to be more prevalent as spring approaches mostly bunnies so far but they say the rattlesnakes should be waking up anytime so that should help with my speed. Speaking of speed I heard someone made it up the hill in 45 minutes today. That's impressive and scary.

I really can not complain about the weather here especially with what many of you are going through but damn it was windy and cold last night. So windy it blew the cover off the pool and the water ended up being about 72 degrees today. My nipples were not happy and it was too cold to do laps after circuit class. The best thing about circuit class was I ended up on a treadmill next to Chef Cameron who has delivered time and time again with excellent food. I mentioned that I felt sorry for the anorexic chickens who had been sacrificing their tiny boobs for us and he hooked me up tonite with a decent sized breast. Not Morton's mind you, but I was happy to pick up that extra 1/2 ounce of protein.

Thought I would give you a little Elton today as his music was the music of choice for today's walk. Not to mention I get to see Jacky two weeks from tonite( I can not wait) and we will be seeing Sir Elton at Caesar's Palace that week. It's been about 20 years since my last Elton show and I am excited because when it comes to producing hits in the last four decades Elton is virtually unmatched in his ability to have big hits in each decade. The man is a true genius and has lived his life without compromising his beliefs and has seemingly found happiness by embracing who he is. I salute his courage but mostly his great, great music.

2 down 4 to go

"Saturday in the Park

I think it was the fourth of July"

Chicago

I woke up saturday morning around 4 am and swore to myself, "I am not walking up that God damn mountain today." So as I layed in bed I tried to come up with legit excuses that people would buy so that I could get out of it. My Achilles is sore (not really) but who is going to question something as specific as an achilles injury.... good planning. Or I could say I was sick. I have been hacking up a storm the last couple days. No No I'll say I am going into town to walk somewhere else to test myself on flat surfaces. I went with that plan. And as I shared that plan I started to feel a little bad so I talked myself into getting on the van and going to the top and walking down. Not as tough and I would just meander a bit. All right that's the plan. I began the descent and forgot that this was a whole different set of muscles and way of walking. This was all right, it was a beautiful morning, there were quite a few more weekenders on the path who like to stop and talk, and I had Tom Petty cranking on the ipod. So about halfway down I am sitting on a bench, minding my own business, when I hear the sound that strikes fear in my heart, a family with young kids coming up the trail. I know damn well it's the happy, smiling owner, his prego wife and their 3 kids plus whatever relatives and neighbors pushing strollers they have roped in to their perpetual assault on this hill. I'm screwed with nowhere to hide. Next thing I know I am heading up the hill with the merry band of mormon gypsies. UGH!! but atleast they eventually cut me loose and let me head back down.

Now that I had done all that I convinced myself, well I am taking the afternoon off and watching some hoops before heading to the chuck-o-rama for dinner with the rest of the campers. That really only meant blowing off circuit training at 2 pm. So as I was laying around watching Marquette Gtown getting ready to go to overtime, the phone rang in my room. That was weird a whole week and the phone has never rung in my room I figure it must be housekeeping seeing if I need towels. Hello " Hi Jim, we're holding circuit training up til you get here see you in five minutes" Fuck me~ put my socks on head down there's like 10 people in the class. where are the other 25 people and did they get calls? treadmill/biceps/treadmill/triceps/treadmill/shoulders/treadmill/quads/treadmill/calfs/

treadmill/ hamstrings/treadmill/glutes/ treadmill/lats/treadmill/chest/treadmill/back/treadmill/abs/treadmill/more abs.

Atleast I got them to turn the Gtown game on the TV. However watching them get fouled shooting a three with 2 seconds left and then making the three free throws and winning in overtime was depressing as was then watching UNC come back from 18 down to beat BC and seeing the highlights of Duke rallying to win.

So let's recap down and up the mountain, circuit training, unc and gtown and duke get ridiculous come back wins...It's just another saturday in the park for Jim. Peace!!