The dichotomy of exercise

Well, hedi-ho poppits and greetings from a wonderfully warm Phoenix!

Today is my last, full day in this area, so I'm taking full advantage of the time here by lounging around the pool with sisters Karen & Dianne. This is the first time I will be able to enjoy the walking pool in Sun City I have heard so much about. Karen, Dianne & Rita love it, so I will experience it today. It's already 70 degrees Farenheit here and it's only 9:30...ah....vitamin D, here I come!!!

It's been a good week for me. John & I did three hikes, and yes, F-bombs abounded for me. It was a challenging hike because the terrain was rough (mostly rocks) and there were big rocks to climb - all great prep for the Inca Trail. While a part of me appreciated having the opportunity to see how well I could do, a bigger part of me cursed my brother for dragging my butt on this hike - like it was all his fault! Mostly it was when I slipped or fell and seriously bruised my thumb when the cursing occurred. See, that's the thing about exercise and me. On the one hand, my logical side understands the great value I receive from exercise - building the muscles, burning the fat, reducing the jiggling of the jiggly bits...I get it! However, when I am going down a large hill, building momentum because of how steep it is and catch my toe on a rock, it's hard for me to see any logic when I'm about to kiss a giant, jagged rock. Know what I'm sayin'?!? It's the F-bomb release that helps me. Of course, I wish I wasn't so profane and that I could say "Gosh" or "oh dear" as I'm tumbling towards the rock, but alas! I can not....good to know about me. If you get embarassed by the use of profanity, I'm probably NOT the person you want to be exercising with. All good learning...

I've been chatting up my sibs here about the value of exercise and dieting, especially in our family. Our genes are riddled with problems on both sides...diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease..yada-yada...I'm really glad they are exercising, but I've realized that for me to maintain this body (or my smaller body), I simply can not go back to being sedentary. My brother is finding all kinds of fun ways to exercise - roller skating, trapezing, rock climbing, swimming. It's got me thinking that I will want to investigate other, fun ways of keeping fit. Yoga is a good one for me. I'll probably continue to do my hikes, but what else can I do?!?

Well poppits, the sky's the limit for me now! So I just need to be creative and get busy! I think I need to dust off my bike that's been sitting in the storage room for a year and take it for a test run. I'm 40 lbs. lighter than the last time I rode it, so that's gotta help, right? And I think I'll make my exercise "bucket list". It will be made up of all the things-I've-always-wanted-to-do-but-was-afraid-I'd-look-funny-doing-it, like...zip-lining over the rain forest...and hiking the Grand Canyon...and snorkelling...and riding naked in a convertible with George Clooney...oh wait! That's not exercise...:) Anyway, I think you get my point.

So, poppits, if you were to create your own things-you've-wanted-to-do-but-were-afraid-people-would-laugh-at-you "bucket list", what would YOU put on it? More importantly, what would it take for you to start crossing things off that list?!?

Signing off to find a convertible...
(a) yt xox