Marathons anybody?

One of the great things about this place is the staff, especially the trainers and guides. They are so enthusiastic, unceasingly motivating, positive, and active, it's really all quite too
much for an Englishman! I can see that my citizenship of 6 months now has no chance of displacing that centuries-old, inbred distrust for anybody that energetic. Take for example, one of the guides, Debrah: this morning, she had to say goodbye to us all because she's off to run a marathon on Sunday. And not just any marathon - it's her 193rd - yes, 193. That's close to the mileage on my last car. And these are just warm-up races for her real passion: ultra-marathons - 100 miles. Too, too, much to even contemplate.

Ironically, We're actually going to come quite close to such silliness tomorrow. The St.George Ironman Triathalon is being run on Saturday:
2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike ride, and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run, raced in that order and without a break, and most Ironman events have a time limit of 17 hours to complete the race.

They will run right past Fitness Ridge. You'll be pleased to know that we will NOT be taking part. However, as a modest doffing of the cap to their incredible endurance, we will be participating in a 6.2 mile (10K) fun run at 6:00 am tomorrow morning. I will be finishing my sixth mile in roughly the same time as they will be finishing their 26th mile.

It's been a great week here and I'll wrap up my final thoughts over the weekend.

No Losers Here

It was a strange experience tonight being with some of the participants at Biggest Loser at Fitness Ridge watching this week's episode of Biggest Loser on TV.

I'm not sure whether it was life imitating art or art imitating life, or life imitating art imitating life. I guess it will be something to think about on tomorrow's hike. One thing for certain, there were no "losers" at Fitness Ridge or on TV. Nothing more need be said.

D is the new C

I seemed to be embroiled in vitamin hell. On the way to Fitnesss Ridge, the shuttle driver regaled us with the benefits of vitamin D, especially vitamin D3, and how vitamin C is so 2009!

Then on our arrival, we were seated with the inhouse counsel for Garden of Life vitamins, who confirmed our humble driver's enthusiasm in that Vitamin D is definitely the new C. Of course, Garden of Life vitamins are the best, he assured us, not being made of synthetic but only natural ingredients, and delivered not in splendid, synthetic isolation, but entwined with a "combination of nature's most powerful whole foods and ingredients to provide optimized nutrition your body can easily digest and absorb."

We got plenty of natural vitamin D today as temperatures rose into the mid-80s under a glorious sun. We completed our first 6-mile hike today and caught the tail end of the desert flowers:

The splendid cylindrical Cactus Barrel,







the vibrant red Indian Paintbrush,













and the delicate violet Desert Poppy



















were abundant on the normally barren, semi-arid, scrublands of Southern Utah.

Unfortunately, I rather over-did it on day 1 - just too competitive when it comes to sport - and am heading to bed early to nurse my aches and pains and over exposure to the sun; and, we get to do it all again tomorrow!

Return to the Ridge

Having had a great two weeks here at Fitness Ridge last July, we decided that we needed a little tune up!

The ride from Las Vegas to Utah looked very familiar but then the desert hasn't changed in the last million years so why expect anything new in the last 9 months? The Joshua trees continue to eke out an existence but seemed healthier this time taking advantage of the meager water from the last days of spring.

Some seemed as if they hadnt had a drop of water for decades; others looked as if they had found the mother lode of trapped moisture and were flourishing like Florida palms, some quite green, clinging to the last remnants of Spring as another 110-degree summer began its heated campaign

The 2 hrs from Las Vegas to St. Georgr sped by pretty quickly and soon we could see the Mormon temple of St.Georeg rising majestically from the valley floor long before we got into town, with it's spire pointing the way like some celestial sign to its heavenly destination.

Apart from the spectacular Mormon temple, (now being competed against in size by a big box Walmart closeby), St. George, the Fresno of Utah, is a pretty ugly town. A cautionary example of strip development and it doesn't even have a strip!

Leaving St.George, it was just a few more mile to our destination, Fitness Ridge, or as it is now known, Biggest Loser at Fitness Ridge, having entered into a partnership with the TV show of the same name.





Looking forward to being back - first class at 6:00 am tomorrow morning!

Sweet dreams everyone!