Zumba!

After my last debacle at the fitness center here in Pensacola (a lunatic named Yuri - who looks like she possibly competed for the East Germans in the 1980 Olympics - tried to kill me with her high-intensity step routine), I decided I needed to go a different route if I intend to come back to Wisconsin for my sister's wedding in any type of shape (aside from rotund).

So, yesterday I attended my first Zumba class. After a quick Google search, I discovered it was some sort of Latin dance exercise. Well, okay - why not? I showed up to find a startlingly eclectic bunch of people spread out in a workout room (people my age, some moms, several 85 year old grandmas, one Danny Glover type old man, and the tiniest, oldest, Hmong woman I've ever seen in my life). A full-figured African American woman (complete with fancy nails and her hair 'did') handed me the class sign in sheet, and I must have looked uneasy. She leaned in and whispered, "Girl - if I can drag my fat ass out there and survive each class, you can certainly shake it!"

Damn if she wasn't right. Next thing I know, I'm shaking my hips, popping my hips, swaying my hips, sashaying, salsa-ing, and basically ghetto booty shaking my little white girl butt right off! It was fantastic! I'm certain that the more "cultured" (aka non-transparent skinned folk) people in the room were horrified at my lack of rhythm and general foolishness, but man did I sweat! And I swear to you, at one point, I smiled and laughed. It was fabulous - I'm a total Zumba convert.