get down and give me ten

- pretty soon I'm going to be able to say that...and not just because I can, because I will be certified to back it up. This weekend I'm taking a 3 day course towards my Personal Training Certification. It's something I've wanted to do since college when I'd see all the 'trainers' in the field house and the weight room and think, "I can do that!" I guess it seemed THAT easy at the time, but there is A LOT more involved and for a good reason too - Personal Trainers need to know just about everything! Not only do you have to be a professional business person, but you should understand the latest trends, how to dispute them for better, safer, and more promising, proven techniques and possess excellent communication skills. There's a big difference between a good personal trainer and an excellent personal trainer - much like a good coach.

So, I guess I'm starting this whole process with this weekend-long class and of course, my personal experience. Today, we learned about muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, and the National epidemic of obesity. As we were calculating calorie intake needs, all of could think of was food and how hungry I was - then, we started talking about the greatest morbidity diseases including hypertrophic heart plaque - and guess who hasn't eaten yet. Yuck!

December Updates

Yes - still alive. On the biking front, spin classes are where I'm at. I've been staring at a 20 foot wall mural of the road in Death Valley while spinning my heart out for the last couple weeks. It's nice to stare at something other than the instructor and it makes me think of our JDRF ride and all the great people I met out in Death Valley and the cure that everyone is working hard towards. Speaking of working, Barry and I volunteered at the Van Andel for the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert. It was again, quite glamorous selling pizza and beer while watching everyone absorb the Christmas spirit, even if it was through a concession stand Bud Light... Ah well. The JDRF team makes it fun and enjoyable with our humorous concession tactics and the money is helping my fast approaching deadline for my $4000 min. pledge. If anyone has noticed in my sidebar (yes, glance left) - I have raised $2639.00 so far. I'm hoping to pull in a few bigger amounts before the year end and if anyone would like to make a Christmas donation, this would help me reach my donation amount to JDRF.

On a different note, I celebrated a few Birthday's last weekend including my own. It was the first birthday ever where my initial thought was, when I woke up - I don't want a birthday...I just want to stay the same age. Not a truly exciting Birthday but a Birthday, nonetheless. And, thankful it's not the three zero yet. Sunday, We threw a Fondue Party and caught up with a several friends we hadn't seen in a long time. The fondue was great and I have to say my homemade chocolate buttercream cupcakes were amazing, despite how many times I licked the spoon making them. Off season is great!