The Ins and Outs of an Ordinary Life

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Fitness, Food and a Broken Ankle

We spent the long holiday weekend at Skytop Lodge in the Poconos with my mother, brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nieces. It was loads of fun and quality family time. DH and I brought our road bikes and went out for a nice ride on Saturday. The only problem is that the lodge is on top of a fairly large hill, large enough that the first 5 miles were downhill. As we are coasting along I kept thinking “it’s going to be a tough ride back!” The uphills were steep! The next day we rented mountain bikes and took off on the muddy trails. That was really fun. We were only on relatively flat roads, so I know mountain biking can be much more difficult but I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity too try something different. On the last day we went hiking. There was a guided “fitness” hike which was described with verbiage to keep beginners away. Well, good thing it wasn’t really all that difficult or that guy in penny loafers would not have made it. Or the other people who should not be partaking in anything described as physically demanding. I wish I could get into their heads—do they really think they are “fit” or do they think the description is inaccurate or that there will be options if they can’t climb out of the ravine? Anyway, with hearts pounding, they put one penny loafer in front of the other and made it out alive. Then brother, nieces and I went for a real fitness hike, complete with switchbacks and a gazebo atop the mountain. The view was awesome and we could see all the way to the Delaware Water Gap. In between all these outdoor activities, there was a belly dancing class, water aerobics, and the great indoor sport of eating large quantities of food. In addition to huge buffets for breakfast and lunch, there was the omelet man, the crepe man, and the stir fry guy. Luckily there were lots of healthy choices, so while I definitely ate too much, at least I ate too much good food and not junk. Except for the chocolate obsession dessert, with ice cream.

So at one point I decided to call the kids at camp especially so they could talk to grandma. Son #1 gets on the phone and the first sentence he utters is “I broke my ankle.” That kinda put a damper on things, especially since the camp had called my cell phone but I didn’t have it turned on. To make a long story short, we were not that far away from the camp, so we picked up his xray at the hospital, picked him up at camp, brought him home, had our favorite orthopedist check him out and put a real cast on, and then took him back to camp. The only glitch is that the break is oblique, kinda like a fault line in his bone. The doctor wants to be sure it doesn’t slide out of alignment, so he needs to see the doctor and have it xrayed once a week for the next 3 weeks. Luckily the camp is only 80 miles from home, so DH will pick him up on Monday evenings and I will take him to the doctor and then bring him back to camp on Tuesdays. Ah, keeps life interesting. It’s always something, right?

1 comment:

Lady Sue said...

The last "hearty" hike I went on there was this lady that lagged way back..we thought we were going to have to carry her out...When I asked her why she thought she could do this hike especially since it was described as for the Hearty only... she told me that she figured since she walked on the treadmill on an incline she could do the hike...I asked her what level and speed she did..she then told me that she walks at 3.2 speed and level 2 incline...I then told her about the regular hikes and suggested that the next time she start out with them and work her way up to the hearty...The funny thing was this gal was weighed less than me but I'm more fit than she....she had to hate me....I loved it!!!!!