I Did What a Kid Would Do: I Kept Going

I declare myself fit.

After an hour at the gym this morning, I tobogganed for nearly two and a half hours tonight with the family under the moon and star, and nothing in my body told me to stop. It was my mind that did, after I looked at my watch. I outlasted my kids and they don't have 150 pound backpacks on their backs.

No looking at my heart rate monitor, no stopping to catch my breath, just constant climbs to get that next rush of flying down the hill. That's what a kid would do. If you're having fun, if the adrenaline is flowing, you just keep going. My body has never before cooperated like this, it's always been the party pooper.

It's no exaggeration to say that a year ago I couldn't sit for two and a half hours, let alone climb a large hill repeatedly.

It goes against good judgement, but we let our four-year-old go on her own sled down the big hill with us. There was rarely a concern but she did crash twice. Once was my fault and she cried after flipping at the top of the hill. But she was just crying because she didn't make it down the hill. Then at the end of the night my wife sent her flying over a big ramp (by accident) that the daredevil snowboarders had set up. Everyone ran in horror to see how hurt she was, but she lay there giggling.

I slammed into a pile of compost, which had my son laughing all night long, even after we got home and well past bedtime.

We'll remember these last two nights of our 2011 Christmas vacation for years to come. I don't remember much of the ones I spent on the couch.