Five Up

I've been Missing in Action for a couple of weeks. Work sent me out to back to back conferences when a colleague who was supposed to attend had a death in the family. I only had a couple of days to prep for the trips so I packed some LaraBars, nuts, Almond milk and steel-cut oatmeal and hoped for the best.

The first conference was held in Nowheresville, far from civilization. It's meant to be a conference centre to concentrate on your organization's issues and not be distracted by the city's temptations... Anyway, the food was bad, just lots of processed crap everywhere, but I tried to make the best out of it by choosing veggies or fruit. The suppers were carb-laden nightmares.

There was a basic gym... no windows, not very good air circulation, a couple of treadmills, ellipticals, body balls and a range of hand weights. A super-chlorinated indoor/outdoor pool was also available... but I didn't use it. They had also a few easy trails around the woods, so that made for nice brisk walking circuits.

Wow, the days were so long and draining... sitting, talking and taking notes. Then break for food and repeat with the blah blah blah, argh!

Second conference was about the same, except more nutritious food served and held in a hotel in a major city. But no on-site gym or pool so they gave vouchers to go five blocks away to a regular gym. Thank goodness it had everything one could wish for. I was able to re-stock some almond milk and pick up organic dates and natural almonds at a health food store.

Upshot is I've gained five pounds. And I feel every five of them. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't exercised each day and actually ate all the crap food that was on offer?

I'm happy to be back home now and back to my regular food and exercise routines. I know the pounds will fall away pretty quickly in the next week or two. I've a three hour hike planned for tomorrow rain or shine!