Excellent Weekend

One of the nice perks of my job is we have a pretty decent company wellness program. There's a gym on the property, and the plant is located in a beautiful spot near some great places to run and ride bikes. In addition to that, the company reimburses employees for fees they pay to join a health club.

I'm not sure how many employees take advantage of this offer; if you were to fling a cat into just about any workgroup out here, you'd have a pretty good chance of hitting someone who's only a couple of croissants away from a coronary. Of course, there are some studly athletes here, too...but I'd guess that the majority of the workforce has bigger numbers in their cholesterol count than they do in their 401k.

But my problem is that since I work for Foothills, my athletic club and swim team memberships are free -- so I can't ask the company for reimbursement. But I truly hate to think that there's a pot of free money that I could be using just sitting there gathering dust. (Hmmm. Have you ever seen money that actually did have dust on it? I'm not sure I have.) What am I to do?

I decided to go ahead and join 24-Hour Fitness. After all, there have been a few times when I wanted to work out when Foothills wasn't open, so I could justify it with self-promises to go lift weights on those mornings when I wake up at 3am with nothing else to do. Right?

Anyway, I got signed up and went over there for an early-morning workout on Saturday. From there I headed to the pool to swim, and then went out to meet my friend Kristen to run at Waterton. I figured that with all that warmup, my legs should be loose, flexible, and ready to pour on the miles.

Well, kinda. I ended up telling Kristen to run several miles of the canyon by herself while I did some stretching and self-massage to try to work the tightness out of my hamstring. During this interval, I had the opporuntity for some "Gee, isn't this pretty" reflections on how lucky I am to live in this state...but didn't have my camera along, so I can't share those images with you. You may, if you wish, take a few moments at this point to close your eyes and visualize a majestic canyon, a crisp blue sky, and the deep, surreal sounds of the river's ice chunks adjusting themselves as the sun peeked over the ridges to warm them.

Pretty sweet, isn't it? (I'll try to remember to get some pictures next time.)

I did end up running the last 3 miles with Kristen, but never really felt like I could stride out to the extent I should've. She had an excellent workout, but I only managed about 7 miles, total. Still, even though my leg still isn't completely cooperative, I'd have to say that I felt like I got some good exercise. Later, I had lunch with Tanner, and actually got him to tell me a little bit about how college is going for him. It was a good day all around.

Sunday was the day for my "Swim Clinic for Runners". About 15 people showed up to get some stroke feedback and to talk about efficiency and open-water racing hints. It was a great group, and they came up with some excellent questions for me. We ended up working past our scheduled two hours, and I was very pleased at the progress that we made. I'm hoping that at least a few of them will join a Masters swim team to continue with the progress they made. And I hope that a few of them will return next month when we have another such clinic. I will never get tired of promoting this great sport!

See? This is why I buy Lottery tickets. If I could win, then every day would be like a weekend, wouldn't it? It's something to dream about, I guess. In the meantime, I'll keep working for a living, adding to my retirement fund, and taking whatever reimbursements and benefits they so kindly offer me. Even without a jackpot in my future, I'd have to say that I have a pretty sweet life. Thank you for letting me share these parts of it with you. Have a great day, my friends!