May 8 and May 9, 2010

I'm going to combine these days in to one giant post for you to wade through. This weekend, Jodi, Jodi's boyfriend, and I went to the wind tunnel (www.skyventurecolorado.com) in Denver, Colorado. The wind tunnel simulates skydiving wihout actually having to jump from a plane (I'm used to saying this) and is used commonly by whuffos for a quick sensation of skydiving whereas skydivers use it as a tool for training to make us better. There were about 10 of us Skydive Houston people there and it was a fun time. Each of us bought an hour's worth of time, which is a lot.

May 8, 2010
Our first tunnel time was not until 7 p.m. on Saturday, so we decided to have some fun in Colorado. I blew out my favorite Lucky jeans, which was probably caused by my serious gas issues on Friday (damn wheat bagel and Chic-Fil-A). I thankfully brought another pair of pants, but my belly is so big right now and the pants are very tight. I mean it leaves an indention on my tummy. So, it was settled that I would get some new pants at the mall. Jodi and I had already planned on walking a mile for our Saturday workout and we thought that walking to the mall would be a perfect idea. It turned out to be longer than a mile and we were going up and down hills. I thought Jodi was going to run up a hill and roll down (I probably would have joined her), but every hill we saw was next to a road or a fence or a tree. Ouch! We stopped at this yoga store in the mall and they were having a free 50 minute yoga workout. Jodi and I said what the heck and joined in the fun. It was actually called Nia and combined elements of yoga, dancing, and martial arts. It was heavy on the dancing, light on the martial arts, and practically no yoga. We should have known something when they said that they were white belts and the one lady was going for her green belt. How do you jump belt colors?

It started out with a variation of yoga and we were like okay, this is interesting. Than it went to the dancing. Oh My God, the dancing. All I can say is, "Close the Car Door, Put the Plates Away, Pour in to the Chocolate, Chop the Carrots." I couldn't look at Jodi anymore, because she was making me laugh. The lady who I deemed Sexual Chocolate, because she was very sensual (and even admitted that she teaches very sensual) and there were about five moves that had someting to do with chocolate. Some of them I didn't understand like "Cinch the Chocolate". I kept thinking in my head, "How did these women get belts?" It was crazy. I barely felt like I exercised. All of the Instructors were doing something different and it was hard to follow. When we got to the free dance (with a designated finger...hard to explain without showing), I almost died laughing. One of the Instructors was going around the store dancing and shopping and this other Nia participant was jumping around like she had crack in her coco puffs that morning. By the time we got to the "martial arts," my foot was hurting and I was pretty much done with this Nia thing even though this part was the only time I felt like I was exercising. We thanked them for a Twilight Zone moment in our lives and left to join reality of life. Needless to say, it was a crazy experience that could only happen in Colorado.

Later on that day, we went to the Botanical Gardens and walked around. We stopped by the Cherry Creek National Park, but it was decided on a majority vote to go to the gardens. Jodi and I were interested in the shooting guns part, but ironically, the guys wanted to go to the gardens. Is that weird? I think so. We finally get there after weird directions and lots of traffic. It was National Garden Day, which meant that it was free to get in and totally packed.

Skydivers can make anything fun no matter what it is and probably be the most immature people ever. We are all big kids. So, we took pictures with weird statues with boobies, we got onto the rocks where it said stay on path, and Jodi's boyfriend pulled Jodi and I in the garden cart, while we did Choo Choo noises. It was a good time and I only mentioned the Botanical Gardens activity, because Jodi and I were walking. And yes, you guessed it, that's exercise (ding ding ding!) that we used for training for this marathon.

Finally, it was time for the tunnel. First session was seven and half minutes each and the second session was 15 minutes each. There are two minute rotations for each person (unless you have others join in your time) within the session. I know that doesn't seem like a lot to majority of the readers, but it's a workout. 15 minutes is like 15 skydives and actually doing two skydives together at one time (that's the two minutes). I put on my jumpsuit, which I could barely put on at all. I should have been embarrassed, but I accepted along time ago that I have gotten to Killer Whale size. Why be upset?! My jumpsuit fit okay the weekend before. So, I think it was the fact that I had washed it the night before, because it was easier to wear on Sunday. I had to take off my pants underneath so that I could make room. I was a little worried that I was going to have a blowout in the tunnel and then everyone (including kids) would see everything since I was wearing dental floss underwear.

I worked on my freeflying and really got to work on turning some points on my back, which not a lot of people can do. Our Instructor and my friend, Brad Cole, was taking it easy on me since he knew about my arm issue from the weekend before. It was actually kind of cool to do the things that I was doing instead of just doing one thing all the time until I was tired. About halfway through the second session, my arm started to throb and it just kept getting worse. I ended up not being able to the third session of 15 minutes. I was so bummed. But Brad wanted to save my arm for the next day. Afterwards, we went to the Fox and the Hound for some fun drinking. Well, some light drinking since we started after midnight and had to get up in the morning for more tunnel time. And while everyone was eating fried bar food, I had a turkey sandwich earlier that evening. We just won't talk about what I ate the night before. Don't be so quick to know ALL the details.

May 9, 2010
Today's tunnel started at 10 a.m. and we were ready. I was not going to participate, because my arm was hurting, but I wanted to real bad. So, I asked my husband, Todd's advice on whether it would be wise to continue today or just scratch the day. He said that it would be okay and just to quit when it gets bad. This time our Instructor was Scott L. who was awesome. The first and second sessions were 10 minutes each. Remember, that's 10 skydives if you weren't paying attention. I got to work on my head down, which was a major workout on the legs and arms and everything. My legs and arms are feeling it this morning. Unfortunately, my arm didn't last long. I went to my back and my belly, but nothing felt good. I did survive the rest of the 10 minutes, but I couldn't do the second session. This was another bummer.

After everyone was done, we said our goodbyes and rushed off to the airport. And walking in the airport is an exercise, as well. We were in Colorado and everything can be made into a workout. We saw Fast Andy's ancestor, White Andy, and had some drinks at the bar. Goodbye Colorado, but I will be back in July or August to redeem my 25 minutes of tunnel time.

I think the next time we run is on Thursday. Jodi is too busy and won't be able to go running until real late. Real late for me means I get less sleep at night since I wake up so early. As a result, I will be on my own doing video workouts.

Also, pictures will be up shortly as soon as I get them.