Saturday and Sunday and off into the world!

Saturday morning I woke up around 5:30am and I was so sleepy! I got my clothes on grabbed my camelback and went to stretch before the last hike. I went down to breakfast, eggs and toast, and sat with the Rowdy Girls. There, one of the wifeies let me know that she would prefer to be call the Rowdy Women! I think Rowdy girls has a better ring to it, but I always appreciate the feminist argument. We chatted and laughed over breakfast and then it was off the to be beach hike.

We walked about 4miles along the beach. I stuck with the Wifey that walked with me the first day. We talked and walked for a little over an hour. It is so great learning from someone who has so much unique life experience. At one point it was just the two of us with a trail guide, and two ladies were passing us reading our Biggest Loser namebadges and Wifey said, “Yes we are contestants on the show” I smiled and the women screamed out some inspirational words and said that they would be rooting for us. As soon as they passed I cracked up laughing! We got back to the van and met the rest of our group and had our snack,  banana and peanut butter.

When we got back to the resort we had about 10 minutes before it was time for last chance workout! I was nervous about it but it turned out to be a complete highlight of the week (there is a trend here about me being nervous about things and them then turning into something amazing) The Wood Sprite and the other trainer picked captains and then the captains picked picked there own team.  I was a captain and picked a good mix of my purps and rowdy girls, including my Wifey friend. She quickly became the CEO of our team and was responsible for spinning  (and stopping) the wheel of exercises to tell us what our team would be doing  reps of100 of, we did countless numbers of sprints, treadmill pull-ups, balance-ball push-ups, crunches, bicep curls, lunges… this went on for about 45 minutes.

Then it was time to get on your favorite cardio machine. We did six minutes in 30 second sprints, alternating 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off.  I started my fist 30 seconds with a run at 3.5 on the treadmill, we were all cheering each other on and the energy in the room was electric, then up to 4.0, then back 4.3, then up to 4.5, then 3.5 again my brain told me I could not do any more. Then the Wood Sprite told us we had to tell the person next to us what our number was. I turned to the girls on the machines next to me and said I am going to try to get back to 4. We started running and I was up to a 4 then with 15 seconds to go I pushed to a 4.5 and at 10 seconds I pushed to a 5! I was running! I have never run that hard in my life.  Every second I felt stronger! The wood sprite started counting down 5.4.3. you could hear people in the gym yelling “Get IT!”  “Keep Going” 2 “We Got This” 1 then you could hear grunting and cheering  “And slow down” the wood sprite screamed. The room erupted in joy and pride.

We all caught our breath, cleaned off our machine and headed over to the aerobics gym for a stretch. We were all so hyper we were laughing and talking, but did a nice stretch. I found myself bursting with pride with tears streaming down my eyes. We received our “Last Chance Workout Buffs” and then headed to lunch. We had bbq sandwiches with carrot soup and veggies.

Then four of us went to get mani and pedi’s which was a great way to end my week. Then we headed back for graduation. We watched the video from the week, and then we all went around and said nice things about each other and our journey. I quoted my friend Tom about how he likened my journey to an awakening. I told this new family that this week I had found a part of myself I never knew. There was a part of me that was awake for the first time. After graduation was dinner, I had the tuna salad again and then chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

The rest of the evening the Rowdy Girls/Women sat around the pool laughing, telling stories, and loving on Elliott, the Wood Sprite’s Boston Terrier. The Rowdy Girls are made up of two mother daughter groups one from Ohio and one from Southern California, the wifeies, a young girl from Southern California, a college student from Southern Illinois, a lawyer from New York, a sassy loud mouth from L.A. via New Jersey, the Wood Sprite, and of course Elliott (though he is not a girl). All of these women met at the resort! Some have been coming for years, some for months; some have been there for weeks. But last night I felt safe, and loved, and like I had found a new place to love and grow! I was one of the last two Rowdy Girls on the sofa by the pool and then  I headed back to my to my room to pack and get ready to see my City Year family

This morning I slept in until 6:30 and then got up, got dressed, and headed to my weigh in. I was not nervous or anxious, I knew that I had worked hard and hoped for some sort of physical result. The Wood Sprite was doing weigh outs. I got up on the scale and lost 4.8lbs, then she measured me and I lost about 3inches, and finally I looked at my body fat percentage and I lost about 1% of my body fat. I also gained a little muscle in the process. I felt like a complete and total success!

After weighing in I went to breakfast one last time with the Rowdy Girls/Women. Then one the Rowdy Girls and I  got in the car service my sister got me and headed to the airport.  And now here I sit trying to reflect on the week and prepare for the next. I think all I have to say is I am grateful. Grateful for my job to let me invest in myself for a week. Grateful for my family to allow me the time to invest in me this summer instead of a having family vacation. Grateful for my amazing network of friends who have supported me with an embarrassment of riches, love, inspiration, grace, and encouragement. Grateful for the people that worked on themselves this week alongside me, who sweated, grunted, sighed, and pushed forward to find health. I am Grateful that I said yes to this process. 

So here I go out into the big world. I will fall and get up over and over again never forgetting that my health is tied to yours, I am because you are.  Let’s live the best life we can together. I will continue to blog and share this journey with you!