My girlfriend and I are getting ready to go on a hike to Glacier National Park. We will alternate between camping and staying in various small hotels and inns. I have been involved in doing some aerobic exercise all my life, whether walking or cycling. When I told my husband about the plans to go hiking with my friend, she laughed. He doesn’t think any of us have enough energy to last two days, let alone a long-term hiking trip. I told my friend about my husband’s reaction of disbelief. She’s in shape, but she doesn’t always do anything aerobic exercise. She took this as a challenge.

He started looking for the best aerobic exercise to prepare for our trip. I tried to call her during our lunch breaks, but I could never get through to her at her desk because as soon as people ran out to get something to eat, she was walking. Twice a week she attended evening aerobics classes. I visited her apartment and discovered three DVDs on various aerobic exercise programs. The woman is totally worried. Initially when we first planned the trip we thought of walking short distances every day to admire the beautiful surroundings, now she was taking this as seriously as an international aerobic exercise challenge! She told me that she had better start trying harder to increase my stamina so that I could catch up with her.

I went home and told my husband that I was afraid our relaxing, back-to-nature trip would turn into an Olympic-scale triathlon. He took this situation with humor. At least my friend is improving her health with aerobic exercise, but she definitely wasn’t planning on panting up a hiking trail. I bought an aerobics treadmill for my walkman and started working harder. The first few walks I worked on trying to unload my energy of harder frustrations on my friend and husband, but as my stamina improved and my lung capacity expanded, I found that I was actually enjoying this higher level of aerobic exercise. When I went shopping for clothes for the trip, I discovered that I had lost a pant size smaller! My clothes at home also looked loose. I told my husband that this was my sweet revenge for his challenge, a whole new wardrobe. He doesn’t object because he thinks I look better than ever.

As our journey draws closer, we find ourselves more and more excited to embark on our adventure. We both look and feel much better since we increased our aerobic exercise. Now, if you hear about two crazy women running around Glacier National Park hiking trials, I’m one of them. Do you want to join us?