As Day 1 — January 15 — of the South Orange Health and Fitness Challenge approaches, I’m not the only local who feels nervous excitement. A friend texted (jokingly) that she’ll attend the “Weigh-in” on that first night in a bathing suit. “Why not?” she wrote. “It’s the Baird Center. I’ve worn my bathing suit there before when I got a pool pass.”
I laughed out loud, literally, picturing myself or her in a bathing suit at Baird in January. “U R funny,” I replied.
Another friend wonders, by text message, if she might win the challenge. She’s motivated to lose some weight, yes, but she also loves the idea of an award or reward. And that, I suppose, is why this program works: we like company and we like competition.
I will be honest here: I don’t expect to lose much weight. My intention is to make significant exercise more than an occasional event and to try new forms of fitness. And my fellow challengers and I have pledged to be the conscience for one another, sending encouragement to get moving via daily — hey, maybe hourly, if we need — texts.
Any suggestions? Let me know if you see me at the Weigh-In. I’ll be the one in a bathing suit. JK, JK.
Follow our collective progress at #SOFit15
