Friday - Day 25

Thursday - Day 24

Wednesday - Day 23

Tuesday - Day 22 Only five more days left!!!

The hike is called Central Park...A walk in the park IT IS NOT!!! Lots of sand at first then, lots of climbing sandstone mountains (which I love). This is my second favorite pic I have had taken out here. I climbed up that rock like I owned that bad boy! We have a great group for hiking this week. Randi (in the black up front) Sean (on the bottom right - who is here for 19 weeks) and Mary (in the blue up front) and I were together today. The other guys were off at the gun and a mountain ahead of us at every turn. It was actually pretty comical because we would climb a mountain and they would yell at us from the next mountain over. Randi would say, "How did they get over there?" and we would say, "How do you climb a mountain?" "ONE STEP AT A TIME", everyone would yell at the same time. This was Randi's first week, but she said she loves hiking with us. And we love her too:)

Terrilynn (second from left) was a little nervous to be in the Advanced A group but these three girls are all new and in her group so I introduced her to them this morning and told them if they needed anything Terrilynn was the expert. They all seemed to hit it off like a charm.

Randi, Me, and Mary. Quite a view.

Here's what I mean about the other group being on the next mountain. That's how far off they were each time. We did that about four times.

Mary and Sean lining up to do the 'handicap ramp'

Beautiful view of Snow Canyon from the cliff.

Me at the top. Another sucessful hike:)

We were laughing so hard we couldn't figure out what to do, about that time Randi dropped her camera case off the cliff, but Kai the hiking guide went all the way down to get it.

This is called 'Indiana Jones'. It's a long rock wall that goes up at least 12 feet on each side and you only have about 15 inches clearance. There was even a dead mouse near the end. It was very much like the movie except no snakes LOL!

One of my favorite hiking guides, Kelli. Fellow cougars unite!!!! She makes the greatest animal noises ever. The spider monkey sounds totally authentic. Love you and will miss you Kelli *smooches*

Breakfast was a banana smoothie but since you only get 8 oz and an English muffin, I chose...of course, the eggs and toast. They were out of the green chili sauce Urg... This is squash soup.

Turkey sloppy joe, Who knew...right? Better than the original by a long shot. The salad is with apples and blueberries and a strawberry vinegrette.

Chicken on mashed sweet potatos with carrots and brussel sprouts. I was hungry from three hours in the pool, so I had the additional salad.

Oh, my love:)

What a long day. Loved the hike. It's called Central Park, but let me tell ya, a walk in the park it ain't!!! Lots of ups and downs and lots of hanging our butts out over rocks that weren't meant for that! Did stretch and pool and then three pools for the afternoon. I'm trying to baby my knee so it will feel good for the hikes this week. Also the pool is way better for working out the arms. I have met so many new and wonderful people. Randi and her dad are going to Coyote Gulch, and art community close to here, on Saturday and told me I could ride along. I'm looking forward to going. Gosh it seems like I just got here. Where has the time gone? I will be so glad to get home, but so sad to miss all the great people here at Fitness Ridge. Some of the trainers are finished for the week and we already said our good byes. I hope I will get to come back again. I think this place becomes a part of you.

Monday - Day 21

This was the most amazing chili. It had perfect spices and four different beans in it. There was ground turkey instead of beef. OK so we NEVER have beef here! The cornbread was equally delightful. It had onion, multi colored bell peppers, and craisins.

For lunch we had vegetable soup, a repeat and our entree was so yummy I never even thought of taking a pic. Just dove right in!! It was a chicken and green chili sauce on brown rice with a roasted veggie skewer. Of course I loved it - who wouldn't love anything slathered in Chef's green chili sauce!

Bacon egg and cheese McMuffin...OK not really:(

Climbing up Three Ponds Overlook Hike

Me and Isabella taking on the mountain:)

It just kept on going up

We made it to the top. This hike is higher up and more rock scaling than Saddle.

Beautiful view of (I think) West Canyon.

Number one:)

Those rocks were relentless. Kelli our hiking guide.

Taking a break, almost to the top.

This is how high up we were. That road down there is West Canyon and we were at a much higher elevation than Stop Sign, probably by 1,000 feet.

Kelli and Kai checking to make sure they didn't lose any of us!

Loaded on the van and headed back for breakfast.

I thought I had fulfilled all my dreams since coming here, but this morning I remembered there was one more thing I hadn't done that I really wanted to do: Make Advanced hike. So today was our evaluation hike that we get every Monday. Last week we went on an advanced hike but I was so close to the back of the pack that I had to stay in Intermediate A which was fine with me. That was such a hard hike I really didn't see the need of bumping me up. I might just as well reserve my ambulance! But today was different. I felt stronger, lasted longer, and stayed in the top third of the group. We were told they didn't even know where they were going to take us because they were trying out some new hikes. Heh....OK that makes me feel really confident right off the bat!!! So Friday we did Saddle. Remember how I said it was the hardest hike here? Well not anymore. Meet Three Ponds Overlook Hike people! More climbing and elevation than Saddle, more sand than Hidden Pinyon, better views than Volcano View, and just plain out mean and rotten!!! I loved it so much I didn't even mind the sand. I think my body is finally getting use to the climate, elevation, and terrian. Just in time for me to go home:) Oh and so when we got back to the van. I made Advanced B. Woo Hoo!!!

There are some wonderful people out here this week. A big shout out to my blog stalking buddies: Crystal and Debbie!!!! You girls rock and you are goin to have such a blast. It is so fun to get to finally meet them in person since they have been reading my blog from the beginning and we figured out that we would all meet out here my last week.

I came back from the hike, ate breakfast, took stretch and then went to Mountain. I love Mountain. There must be something wrong with my head (note to self, get examination upon return to NC). Got a double shot of Tiffany this morning in stretch and Mountain class. I told her it's my last week and I really need you to push me today. So for the last three minutes of class she was hanging off my treadmill yelling incentives to me. She is so great. I finished the last 6 minutes at the highest elevation (15) starting at 4.0 mph and going up to 5.7 mph for the last three. When you have it on 15 you have to hang on for dear life or you will go flying into the lap of the recumbant bicyclist behind you. Not pretty! I can't wait to see what hikes they have in store for us.

Since it's my last week, I need all the encouragement I can get so pour it on. I'm on my last leg and my last mile and I need to hear the roar of the crowd as I cross the finish line. You, my audience have helped me make it this far. When I thought of quiting, I thought of you and how I would have to tell you I failed. It's not in my nature, I'm ready to play big. Meet me at the end and scream your guts out cause the race gets harder at the end. I can see the Big Stop Sign in the distance. The breezes are blowing and my heart is pounding. Do I have what it takes to pass the competition and break the banner? My lungs are filled to overflowing. I am close to emotional breakthrough. Only 5 more days to go and then I'm home free. Thank you all for taking this journey with me.

Sunday, Bloody, Sunday - Day 20

This will be the only pic for today. Do you know why? Because it's of me actually thinking I look smaller for the first time. That's what I came here for. 1 - I wanted to get off my diabetes meds. Check. 2 - I wanted to become an athlete. Check. and 3 - I wanted to lose weight. Check. I weighed today and was down another 4.6 lbs. That's a total of 13.6 for the three weeks. How do I feel? I feel absolutely fabulous! I have tons of energy, I can do things I haven't been able to do for years, I am loving life. It's hard to believe in three short weeks this much change could happen in you life. Granted I did lose 25 lbs before coming here, but Fitness Ridge is life changing. Everyone here cares about you so much and it really makes a difference in your life. They call it a compassionate bootcamp LOL!

People ask me all the time how much it costs to come here and they are shocked and basically write it off in their minds. I am now looking at how affordable it is. What price can you put on your health? Really. How much do you think it would cost to add 10 years on to your life? I will go home saving $350 a month on medication. And what will I be able to prevent myself from getting down the road? A heart attack? Stroke? Those are very expensive things to fix. So here's the bottom line. It costs about $2,000 a week to come here. I got a better deal cause I booked for a month last Dec. before they raised the rates, but still it's not much more now. I will save that on medicines in two years!!!!!!! Listen to me when I tell you. This place works. Simply put. You learn principles to help you when you get home and if you follow them YOU WILL GET HEALTHY! There are no gimmicks, no easy button, no fancy pill. Just you, exercise, and the right food. That's all it takes. Well, that and motivation. If you are interested in booking a stay go to www.biggestloserresort.com and if you call to make a reservation tell them Dawn Mathews send you. They will give you $100 off your stay upfront. What could be better. Oh, the fact that they give me $100 too towards my next stay:) And I never thought I'd be saying this, but I will be back. No matter what size or fitness level you are at, Biggest Loser's Fitness Ridge will melt you down and build you back up again. And let me tell you, you will love the results:) I'll see you on the trail again tomorrow. Wonder what painful torment they have waiting for us? "Kill It!!!"

Saturday - Day 20

OK so the pics are all out of order;) Here we are at bowling. Me and Caron.

More bowling.

Getting ready to take the van to bowling.

Gosh what a horrible pic, but what a yummy breakfast! There's my green chili salsa;)

Here we are on the hike, West Canyon. It was Julieann, Kimmy (one of our hiking guides) and me. So this guy comes flying over us in this dune buggy turned prop plane with a parasail. Too cool. We watched him fly up and down the canyon for so long. I would love to do it.

This is me and my third week roomie, Cheryl. She lives in Maryland and works in D.C.

The triumphant trio, Adam, Mai, and Ian.

Our hiking guides goofing off.

Beautiful scenery of West Canyon.

More of the gorgeous scenery here.

This is across the road from Fitness Ridge. It was a beautiful sunrise.

The sky looked like it was on fire.

Saturday. Not much to report today. We got up and did our West Canyon hike. Came back and took stretch and then laid out of pool class. I had some stuff to do in the room and helped Julieann to pack. Well I talked and she packed. I am really going to miss her. I know there will be new friends arriving tomorrow, but there won't be another Julieann! I love you girl!!

We kicked around in the afternoon after lunch and went bowling after graduation. We were all so tired we could barely finish two games.