Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Workouts at the castle on the hill

I don't think I've ever blogged about my workout schedule. I didn't have an interesting angle, until now.

I've been working out with Stan for a couple years. One evening of personal training a week, and then a weekend warriors class with him on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I (*ahem*) try to get in a fourth workout on my own, but find that if I don't have someone at the gym waiting for me, I often don't make it there.

We do a lot of activities that work the cardiovascular system and the core muscles, focusing on both strength and balance and endurance. I think they call that functional training. It's not my area of expertise, but I'm pretty sure that what it's called. (Hint: If you look at the client photos on Stan's site, you can find some unflattering photos of me working out. There's lots of sweating involved.)

Since I work at a desk job and can be a couch potato at home, I need something to motivate me to get moving. (As if both my parents having heart attacks in their 50s wasn't enough motivation.) For those three hours a week I'm with Stan, I'm motivated and focused and I get a really good workout.

Anyway, that's not the interesting angle I promised in the lead. What's interesting is that for the past month or so, Stan has been a trainer without a formal gym. The old personal training gym closed, and while Stan has been looking for a new location, we've been doing our weekend workouts outside -- Saturdays in a park and Sundays at a local high school track. It officially become too cold to workout outside this past weekend, but up until then our Sunday workouts were here:



What is "here"? It's Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Ill., known informally as the castle on the hill. Imagine me huffing and puffing and running around the track, dodging goose poop and being dazzled by the view. I took this photo one morning after our workout.

Why do I feel the need to blog about it now? Because ESPN just recently named it one of the best high school football stadiums. Here's what ESPN had to say:
7. Bill Duchon Stadium (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
The field is surrounded by woods on three sides, and with the man-made Lake Ellyn Park behind the visitors' stands, the crowd atmosphere on Saturday afternoons (there are no lights) appears right out of the movies. In fact, scenes from the movie "Lucas" were filmed at the site. The high school, built in 1923, looks like a castle, complete with turrets, and sits atop a hill behind the home bleachers. After a Hilltopper victory, the home-team players storm up the hill to ring a victory bell to announce to the town they've won. The field is named after a longtime coach/athletic director who still resides in the affluent suburb west of Chicago.
I would have been oblivious to this tidbit of information, except I saw today that another blogger used my photo from Flickr and had posted about it.

Oh, and about that movie mentioned -- Lucas? My husband was an extra in one of the crowd scenes. I'm pretty sure you can't actually see my husband in any of the crowd shots in the movie, but he was there and can tell you in minute detail how mind-numbingly boring filming a movie can be.

P.S. I'll give 100 Entrecard credits to anyone (up to 2 people) who locate a photo of me on Stan's site and link to it in the comments. Why? I have no idea.

Update: Fragileheart found two of the four pictures. There are still two more on the site. Hint: In one I'm photographed with Karen and in the other with Yvonne.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10/28/2008

    Hey...guess who goes to Glenbard West? Ramona's daughter Mara. If you see a blonde girl that looks like Ramona on your jogs out there, that's probably her!

    It's a pretty place to jog. Even if you have to tip toe through the goose poop.

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  2. Anonymous10/28/2008

    Here's you hot lady: http://www.trainwithstanimal.com/pages/haley2.html

    and here: http://www.trainwithstanimal.com/pages/haley1.html (in the red shirt)

    tee hee

    Good for you for getting such a good workout in!

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  3. @Karina -- Ramona's daughter is old enough to be in high school?!? We're old. :) Yes, it is really pretty. Deserving of a place on anyone's national Top 13 list though? Did you see the others? Must have been one of the "quirky" picks.

    @fragileheart -- I knew I could count on you to go looking! Thanks for feeding my whimsy.

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  4. Anonymous10/29/2008

    Mara is a freshman this year. If you want to really feel old...Eric is 17 years old and is Jr in high school. I am in complete denial about it though, I claim he is someone else's son.

    I didn't see the others on the list.....I'll have to see if Ramona knows about the list and her neighborhood's position on it. You KNOW she'll get a charge out of it.

    ReplyDelete

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