I organized a hunt yesterday for around 20 friends and family members. My kids traveled as much as six hours round trip to be part of the event. There was food and drinks and even a cake with candles, because today is my birthday. I have made it this far…69 years. What a treat. I am grateful to be alive, to have lived this long, to still be journeying and celebrating.
This morning I forced myself to do 700 crunches (300 bicycles and 400 non-stop balls) after warming up with a brisk 1500 meters of indoor rowing.
Oh yes, that hunt: it was for plastic Easter eggs, about 100 of them, hidden in the cracks between stones in old walls, under plants, in the branches of trees and bushes. It’s a lot of fun. And great exercise. I spent over an hour planting these multi-colored symbols of spring and new beginnings, stooping and bending, keeping my Springer Spaniel from eating the candies stuffed inside. In a warm year like this one, I worked up quite a sweat.
When everyone had arrived, and I shouted “GO!” to launch the egg search, the energy release is a mini-explosion . The kids run like crazy in all different directions, but the adults and post-teen children are running as well, either helping the little ones or competing with them unashamedly. You ever try keeping up with a five-year-old racing for candy? Not easy, bless their little hearts. And they are tireless. No one ever has “enough.”
Then I walk around for another half hour checking all the spots. You’d be amazed how many eggs are missed that are right out in the open. People just pass by them. No wonder I can’t see a tennis ball at 100 mph, when the average human eye walks by a static object without noticing its existence. And every time I announce that there is still another egg to be found, the crowd rushes and crushes to my general vicinity to seek out the missed prize.
Lots of laughs. The downed “game” is devoured within an hour, along with the cake—I had three pieces—and ice cream for those who reward themselves for such an active workout.
Who says exercise helps you lose weight? Not on Easter Sunday or your birthday.
hunters and game—4/4/10
