Cardio-max class

Strong, energetic, courageous women abound in the Jackson Hole area. We've got an Olympic triathlete here as well as the first woman to ski off the summit of Mount Everest. Another local just won a race (and set a world record) in a competition that involved skiing up and down a mountain for 24 hours. For others, a 24-hour bike ride or 100-mile foot race is the perfect good time.

My idea of fun is going to the movies, reading in bed, drinking wine. Sure, I ride my bike all through the summer, cross-country ski in the winter and hit the gym a couple of times a week. But there's a nagging voice in my head: Must be better, stronger, more energetic, more courageous.

So today I aimed for a three-fer by taking a "Cardio-max" class at my gym. It was a brave move for me to (1) try something labeled "max," a term I dread as much as "extreme" and (2) work out in a group. Exercising alone allows me to avoid comparisons with people who are more fit and coordinated and also gives me an out to quit whenever I want. Which of course is the problem.

The "max" in the class title might have meant "maximum amount of exercise equipment." Over the course of 50 minutes, Heather, our instructor, put us through our paces on a mat, a stationary bike and a rubber bubble thingie. We also used handheld weights, exercise bars and giant stretchy bands with handles. Variety is not only the spice of life, I found, but also a flabby woman's best friend in a cardio class. We did so many different moves that I never had that "Oh, god, I can't take any more" feeling.

So, a cardio-max class is today's new thing. It may not be skiing off the top of Mount Everest, but it was a small, brave step for me, and a new thing.

"Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it."
- Mark Twain