Best of Both Worlds

Lately, I love to exercise. Yesterday, my wife had a body mass index profile so we decided to see what category we might be in: healthy (not so bad but unlikely), overweight, or the dreaded obese. I don't recall what number I am now, but I'm still "overweight." BLAH! Yeah, I could lose another 15-20 pounds before I'm as skinny as I can get. Six months ago I was "obese." I weighed in at a whoppin 225. I don't think I would have considered myself obese since I was so active--but maybe that's just denial. Anyways, I'll get to how the photo relates to what I'm talking about. I'm happy to report that my wife is "healthy," which is great.

So in the last 6 months, I've lost 30 pounds. Yey! I feel much better. My blood pressure is now normal where it was once so high that my face would get hot a lot. My "program" has been eating better and over-exercising--an hour a day. I go to a gym and use a Precor Underwater Runner--at least that's what I call it. It's actually called an Adaptive Motion Trainer. I'd skip the gym membership and put one of these in my house but it runs a whoppin $8,000.

There's no better description for how it feels to work out on this machine other than running under water.

Yesterday I was about to head out to the gym and decided to grab my camera with my new lens mounted, a Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, and head in the opposite direction. I went up to Badger Mountain and decided to jog to the top and take some photos of the sunset.

While I didn't jog the whole way, I did break a nice sweat and taxed my body well for over-eating last weekend. But the trip was worth it. I was blown away by how amazing the sunset was. What you see in the picture is exactly what it looked like from the top of Badger Mountain. You're looking at Rattlesnake Mountain in Hanford, WA. It's completely off limits to hikers and trespassers in general. It's owned by the Federal Gov't and is known to have missile silos on it. I wish I could go to the top and get some shots of the sunrise but I don't want to get caught. It's probably the best vantage point in the area for a sunrise, though.

Jogging back down the hill, I was extra careful not to trip on rocks since I couldn't see very well. I did trip on one and almost "biffed" it. But at the end of the night, about 9:30pm, I made it home safely with the Best of Both Worlds: a good hour of exercise and photographs that make me appreciate the beauty God has created for us to enjoy.

NL