by Dawn Nicholas
As thunder
rumbled loudly overhead, a waitress scrambled among the tables to collect
payment from those of us who had been enjoying a lazy late afternoon lunch in
Central Park. My 16 year old daughter
and I dashed through the trees and onto the city streets, our large,
overstuffed goodie bags bouncing against us, just as warm , heavy drops of rain
began to fall. With less than two blocks
to cover before reaching the subway station, the downpour began, and we were
among the unprepared, laughing as we surrendered to our fate.
Months
earlier, I had come across an ad in Self Magazine announcing the 20th
Anniversary Self Workout in the Park.
This event is held yearly in cities across the U.S. to promote health
and fitness to women of all fitness levels.
During this outdoor event, a wide variety of mini fitness classes are
held every 20 minutes from 11 am – 3 pm, taught by a group of energetic
instructors. For a $20 entry fee, each
attendee is permitted to take part in an unlimited number of classes on the
turf surface in front of the main stage, plus one yoga/pilates and one CrossFit
class. Kids age 12 and up are welcome
to attend with an adult.
According to
the SELF's Workout in the Park's schedule,
the New York City event was to be held in Central Park on May 11 (rain or
shine). I cringed as I checked our
normally overbooked family schedule, but was pleased to discover that we had an
entirely open Saturday. My daughter and
I were excited about spending a fun day over Mother’s Day weekend going on a
new adventure together (I admit that it didn’t hurt that Shay Mitchell, her
favorite actress, was going to be the guest host of the event).
As the date
drew near, the weather forecast indicated that Mother Nature had other ideas,
including all-day thunderstorms. The
night before the event, I had pretty much accepted the fact that we wouldn’t be
going to Central Park the next day.
However, my daughter was still holding out hope for good weather, a trip
into NYC, some group fitness classes… and a glimpse of Shay Mitchell. At 7:00 am, I looked outside and saw overcast
skies and a recently rained-upon lawn.
The weather forecast called for morning showers and thunderstorms
beginning at 1 pm. However, with our
busy day-to-day schedules, it isn’t often enough that we take time out to enjoy
a new activity together, and we had been looking forward to this day for
weeks. We rallied and made our way to
the train station as the sun began to peak out from beneath the heavy blanket
of clouds. We had so much faith that the
universe would cooperate that we didn’t even bring our umbrellas.
We arrived in Central Park at 11:00, just in time for the start of the fitness classes. In retrospect, we should have arrived earlier (check-in began at 9) so that we could leisurely peruse the sponsors’ booths before the lines began to get long. As the day went on, we found that although hundreds of people attended the event, there was a very large staff on hand to keep everything organized and running smoothly.
On the main floor, we danced the day away in LaBlast, a ballroom dance inspired workout; boxed our way through Million Dollar Knockout, toned up with Bodyshred interval training and got funky in Tutu Fresh, a ballet-inspired dance class set to upbeat, fresh music. A total of nine workouts were available on the main floor, where individuals of all fitness levels were free to join in or to take a break at any time.
Unfortunately, the CrossFit classes were all full by the time we got around to signing up; however, we did manage to get the last two slots for Pound, a high-energy, pilates-inspired toning workout set to music. In Pound, we held deep squats and ab strengthening poses while using drumsticks to ‘pound’ to the beat, twisting and turning at various times to strike the ground with our sticks. I guess the drumming distracted me enough to hold the poses longer than I usually would; I was sore for several days afterward!
We were
surprised at the generosity of the sponsors at the Self Workout. We came home with free boxes of Keurig coffee
and tea pods, plastic tumblers, beach balls, yoga mats, full-sized bags of
flavored popcorn, change purses, perfume samples, coupons, snack bars in
various flavors, sunglasses, t-shirts, totes, and more. The vendors handed out ice pops, cups of tea,
salads, and snack bar samples along with the take-home swag. On-site mini-facials, neck massages and skin
cancer screenings were also available.
Between workouts, we traveled unashamedly among the booths, eager to see
what our next treat would be, like kids on Halloween.
By 2:45 we
were pleasantly tired and happy that there had been no sign of rain all
day. In fact, the sun had been shining
on and off throughout the event. We decided to stop at Le Pain Quotidien for
lunch on our way out of Central Park, where my daughter and I enjoyed delicious
organic food and reminisced about our day … the workouts … the goodies … Shay
Mitchell … Bethenny Frankel … the Z100 DJ … the cute little dogs walking
through the park … school … friends …
the life of a teen …
Had we not been enjoying each other’s company
so completely, we might have noticed that the sun was disappearing, and asked
the waitress for our check a little bit sooner.
But I’m glad we went to New York that day, and I’m glad we didn't notice
the storm rolling in. The price of
arriving home in dry clothes would have been cutting short the very best part
of the day: relaxed, unguarded strings
of conversation over a simple lunch in the park with my
daughter.
Dawn Nicholas ( www.dnicholasphotography.com) is a Certified Professional Photographer specializing in maternity, newborn and children's photography. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, three children and their adorable dog, Casey.
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