Dan and I are officially inspired by Jared and Maria's quest for exercising on a regular basis. This doesn't mean that we have achieved this, notice I just said "inspired." No action involved...yet. Unfortunately we don't have really cheap massage parlors nearby, which, I definitely think is one of the best rewards you could look forward to. But we do have some decent restaurants, so I think we'll settle for some good Thai cuisine or so after a few hard workouts.
It is relatively easy to find some kind of exercising venue in Happy Valley. Compared to Calvin, there are so many more people running, biking, walking, etc. either on lunch breaks or in commuting to school. Of course, they have to work off those extra carbs they pound during the tailgate parties, but each to his own, I guess.
Dan and I have two main routes that lead us to school. One is straight up the hill towards school, takes about 10 minutes of hard pedaling, but relatively doable. The other route typically takes about 30 minutes (for me--I'm sure Dan would take a lot less), and is a more gradual uphill battle, but a good workout. since we usually bike to school anyway (and walk in the winter) an extra 'workout' has been defined as taking the long route 5 times a week, for two weeks before awarding ourselves with a dinner out. We'll see how it goes.
This morning I decided to make my first of five this week, and took the long route to school. It was a little rough. I'm not necessarily out of biking shape, because I've been biking all summer, but this past weekend was spent 80% on the couch reading Harry Potter. I don't think we exchanged more than a few sentences Sunday afternoon, as Dan settled down in his lazboy (he's on book 4) and I lay down on the couch (I finished book 5 last night and started on book 6). It's amazing how addicting some Children's literature is, especially when the alternative all week is reading articles on fungi and roots. It's also amazing how much better the books are, compared to the movies. We have rented up to Harry Potter DVD #3 from the library, but they cut so much stuff out, and you don't get all the little nuances and character-building things that are in the book. Ah well, that's usually the case anyway. Hopefully this reading stint will last for a bit--this summer I've not only gotten through Harry Potter 1-5, but I also finished 1984 (after 3 years of trying to get through the first chapter), have started on "A prayer for Owen Meany", and several others that have completely slipped my mind right now. ...hmm, must have not been that memorable.
I can't believe summer is coming to an end and the days of lollygagging around reading (after work, of course) are almost over, and our days will be filled with research (no change there), choir, FISH (youth group), and other things that come up. The other day I got an email from someone at the church asking us to teach the high school Sunday School this coming semester, and we both had a good laugh at that one.
OK, time to get to work.