What is up with me and potato salad lately?

I don't know why, but I have been craving potato salad lately. It is a good thing that I go to the gym and work out a lot. To some extent, I always feel that my passion for working out, allows me to indulge a bit on cookies and yes, lately potato salad. I love the gym. I used to work out at home. We had a nordic track and a weight machine in the garage that I used religiously. But, then one day, I decided...okay I work from home, I raise my kids at home, I exercise at home, I do Yoga at home with Rodney Yee's tapes...I need to get out of the house more! So, we joined Club Sport which is a quick ten minute drive from the house. I love going to the gym and crave the exercise if I don't. I enjoy working out in the big exercise room on the eliptical trainer or the treadmill and lifting weights in the weight room, or participating twice a week in Roberta's Step classes.

Step Class is the highlight of my week. At first, I was a complete dunce and looked like an idiot trying to get the hang of the moves and the new lingo attending a Step Class requires you to know. The movements are kind of complicated and are choreographed like dance moves. This is not something, that I think I come by naturally. I remember back in college thinking it would be fun to dance in Knox College's production of My Fair Lady. I went to an audition where the choreographer got up on stage and did a rapid succession of dance moves, pirots, and kicks and then looked at me and said...okay go! I kind of looked at her and slunk out the back door. Was she insane! So, I am a little slow to learn new dance steps and am slightly dislesic when it comes to telling my right foot from my left. But, once I learn the steps I am as coordinated as the next gal, and good to go! The other reason I am not a natural dancer, is that I sweat a lot...probably THE major reason I decided not to try my luck on the broadway stage!

I like Step Class, not only for the great physical work out I get, but also for the great mental exercise I get. I really do think I come back to my computer with my brain reshuffled after step class. Performing step you have to learn a whole new language. It is constantly causing my brain to create new patterns and I find it entirely refreshing. For instance, here is one of our routines...

Turn step. Double chug. Reverse hop over the step. A-step. L-step. Basic right. Basic left. Chicago Tap. Drag and turn around. Reverse turn. Mambo waltz. Tap over. Diva. Turn around. Knee lift walk two. Elevator. Tap down. Tap up. Chug two walk four. Rear leg lift walk back. Turn and leap. Kick ball change. L-squat turn around and leg lift. Crazy eight. Split lunge. The whiz. Merry-go-round. Quickie tap. Brittney Spears. Reverse V and mambo stomp. Circle turn. Stroll over. Circle turn back. Diagonal over and jazz square. Fame. X-step. Chop sitck turn and knee lift...and that's just what I can remember sitting here at the computer.

For an entire hour, I whirl around following Roberta's commands as she calls out all the fancy-smancy step moves. The music is loud and the enthusiasm is high. There we all are, a group of about 15-20 men and women all stepping together, more or less in a coordinated pattern. It is a great work out and for me, breaks up the monotony of lifting weights and running on the treadmill all the time.

So, potato salad...you just don't stand a chance! In fact, I going to have a chocolate chip cookie too, just because I went to Step Class today!