Zumba!

An Easter Weekend of gluttony, ending a period of intense chocoholism...not! until the stockpile has been exhausted! hmm...there is an article that may comfort..

Snow and rain put me off a long run in the English Garden in Munich, which I would have longed to do...however, we did walk, and walked for most of the weekend, in and around.

Back into business on Tuesday, a day of blue skies at times, with occasional showers. The humidity makes it quite cold....gone are the days in March when the days first became longer, the warmth of the sun kissed our skin, and we could go on, and on...and on. Cycling, Running and enjoying the great outdoors..

I felt obligated to hit the gym and got in in time for a Zumba class - one that I had heard about so much about : it's fast, it helps people wanting to lose weight achieve results...however it has been YEARS since I have stepped into a group class apart from Pilates, Yoga and Spin. I just had to give it a go.

The class started 10 minutes earlier which made me wonder whether it was the right class! The beginning felt like a Body attack class - left and right, dance moves. Our instructor wore only a sports bra and a torn shirt with no sleeves and big big holes for the arms. She also had messy hair and wore plastic armbands - a rather funky look. My fellow 'Zumbans' tonight were of all shapes and sizes, a 6-foot + girl right in front of me, a pregnant woman, tall, short...fit enough to dance away.

With my continual lower calf tenderness and an ex(I hope!) plantar fasciitis sufferer, I have paid the price for doing high impact sports like badminton earlier on in the year. However, this was different. Under peer pressure (?) I was able to do fast lunges, fast star jumps! (fast being a relative concept). I felt a little young again (flashback: friday evenings at the Sydney Dance Theatre doing streetfunk) - but when we got in a circle and were assigned numbers 1 and 2 and had to twirl and pass each other...hmm, my recent Celidh experience at a 60th birthday proved to be a lot better!

Is Zumba then, one exercise for the old, or the young?
If I can get myself to the gym on an evening that it's on, I will give it another go. After all, its a sport not for demonstration - and who cares? cos I know no one from the class...it's a good stretch, a good burn of energy - hopefully leading to a leaner me, much required for the upcoming scheduled runs... :)