Day 5: December 2

Fun Fantastic Friday

0600 Stretch w/ Jake

0700 Breakfast: 2 silver dollar whole wheat pancakes, scrambled eggs and mixed fruit

0745 Hike Descriptions & Departure

0800 Hike: Backbone Trail at Encinal

1115 Stretch w/ Tina

1235 Lunch: Cesar Salad Pizza and Mushroom Soup (so gooood!!!)

1315 Prep for Next Week: we had a few announcements and we each had to share successes and hopes for next week there will be 29 returners next week

1430 Circuit Training w/ Cameron

1530 Cardio Disco Jam w/ John...Travolta

1630 Liquid Moves aka Pool Volleyball

1545 Dinner: Chicken Tostada and pineapple sorbet

Hooray...almost done with week 1. What an amazing day. The Santa Ana winds slowed down today and made room for beautiful blue skies and the sun to warm us on our hike. I really enjoy the hikes, it is actually something I will carry over from here and hope Ryan and the boys will join me for day trips. You will hear from Betty that she absolutely HATES the hikes. The the Malibu Hills and Canyons are no joke, but the outdoors and being out of the gym makes it so enjoyable. Today, I was pushed on the hike. And LOVED it. Hike guide and our stretching extraordinaire, Tina, took me at my pace ahead of the rest of our group and she wanted me to really push it. The hike was a 6 mile hike we almost made it to the top of the second mountain range but had to turn around to be on time. I hiked almost 6 miles in 2 hours. I have decided this is my success for the week. And Tina is so funny and smart and I really really enjoyed getting to know her.

Betty will be adding more tonight as well. I am not sure yet what she will be posting, so there might be a little repetition in our blog post tonight, but hey isn't that what we are doing all day long...repetitions. 

I can tell I am getting stronger. I pushed myself on the hike came back and felt good about my performance in Circuit Training and had so much fun in Cardio Disco Jam. Although Circuit Training is high intensity, I felt that I had a really good handle on my workouts today. I am really proud how strong I pushed it today and to think today was the hardest to get out of bed!

I want to talk more about this "RESORT". The rooms are so comfortable (you will never be in it other than changing and sleep) but everyday the room is cleaned and the bed made. I imagine that most rooms are a complete disaster for the cleaning staff to work around, but they really do a great job. The whole resort is very clean and very pretty. The dinning hall is beautiful and the main building with the store, dinning hall and offices is really nice. All staff here the front desk, hiking guides, trainers and wellness staff are so kind and helpful about EVERYTHING. 

There are so many people here. Like I have shared all week we are creating new friendships and connections with people that we hope to know for our lifetime. This is such an intense program that when you are this emotional the people around you are the ones to push you harder and to help you through the pain and sweat. They keep us laughing and sharing our journey. I am so happy to have these people in my life for accountability and friendship. Kelly, Heather, Meg,Haley and Susan are all such strong women and we are so proud to call you our friends.

I am so thankful for this experience. I am extremely grateful to our followers. This is not easy and your support has been amazing. For anyone thinking about coming here we are happy to talk to you, and send us an email, there is a referral credit that we all can benefit from. I was talking to Tina today as we blasted through the hike, when you think about the cost of being over weight, the cost of a medical condition this is TOTALLY worth the money!

And finally...WE LOVE OUR DUCKS! Congratulations to the Oregon Ducks football Inaugural PAC 12 Champions. We look forward to the Rose Bowl!