Gettin' My Groove On

My apologies for the delay in posting...lack of time and sheer exhaustion had the better of me.

Friday, September 18, 2009

My final full day of classes has arrived. While bittersweet, I continue to look forward to repeating classes from last week and noting my improvements.

6:00 a.m. Kickboxing class today...let's roll. I have no idea how Micheline has so much energy at 6:00 a.m., but she does get us moving. 340 calories burned and I'm off to breakfast.

Today's breakfast was a Spanish Fritatta with Avocado, similar to last week's offering with the addition of avocado. The substantial serving was more than enough fuel for today's hike. Speaking of the hike, since tomorrow will be my last chance to improve my record on Stop Sign, I thought I could use the training and calorie burn by choosing Stop Sign for today. It didn't let me down. While I didn't time myself, I did burn over 1,000 calories and gave myself an edge for tomorrow. The better you get to know Stop Sign, the better your time will be come Saturday.

Lunch today was a Chicken Stew and Wheat Roll. I kept asking for butter for my roll but no one understood what "butter" is. This was absolutely one of my favorite lunches, coming as close to comfort food as I've tasted here.

My afternoon classes were scheduled to be Circuit Training, Living Drums, and then Cardio Disco Jam. Wanting to burn as many calories as possible for the day, I opted to sub a second Circuit Training class for the Living Drums. Daniella, 23, and I pushed each other on the cardio machines, practically racing on the treadmills. I was quite pleased with myself in that I was able to keep pace with someone half my age. Cardio Disco Jam was a blast this week, thanks in part to this being my second class and also for John tutoring my two left feet before class. I was actually able to keep pace and enjoy the entire class. I'll really miss seeing John each Thursday in his Funk disco shirt doing his signature move. You have to be there to really appreciate it.

Dinner was a Barbecued Chicken Sandwich with a Brownie for dessert. I asked if the sandwich recipe was in the cookbook and was told it was just a roasted skinless chicken mixed with Cattlemen's BBQ sauce, definitely one I'll be making at home. The brownie was quite good, but since I'm not one for sweets, I doubt I'll be making it myself.

After dinner we chilled at the rest stop and before I knew it, plans were being made for the weekend. Since I had a mani/pedi scheduled for 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, I planned on staying put and packing tomorrow night. Well, it didn't take much to persuade me to escape the compound with Marcus, Sandie and Karen for a trip to Vegas. I'm guessing the $8.00 I have left in laundry money won't last long, but at least there will be a change in scenery. Once plans were made, I headed off for my final deep tissue massage to help prepare for my final Stop Sign Hike, dead set to break my old record of 1:15:05. Tomorrow comes soon, so off to dreamland I go.