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Football field at the Georgia Dome. Workout participants already scoping out their places.
My "photographer," Kelsey, & I walked in about 9 a.m. to a Georgia Dome bustling with activity. You could feel the excitement in the air. Our first meeting was with Lauren, from Be Everywhere. She was at the Media table checking everyone in, and her bright smile and cheerful attitude assured us the day was going to be good. Turns out, she was right...
After thanking Lauren and the others at the media table, Kelsey and I made our way down to the field and then backstage to the "Press" area. (Sidenote: It is great now to see bloggers being considered MEDIA!)
Once we were in the backstage area (where we ended up staying all morning), we joined the official press line and watched the stars of World Fitness Day roll in:
As the trainers finished up the press line, they made their way out to the stage on the football field. The group workout time began with the original fitness guru, Jane Fonda, leading the crowd (with all the other trainers behind her). Then, one-by-one, each trainer took to the front of the stage and "did their own thing."
Denise worked everyone out aerobically, Debbie Allen got us dancing to some salsa beats, and then....it happened. Billy Blanks hit the stage. WOW! I don't know how many of you own Tae Bo, but let me tell you something--if Denise and Debbie didn't get you moving, Billy BROUGHT IT. That guy is amazing. He really took the workout up quite a few notches!
If I'm remembering right, Richard came out next, and here is where I come to a COMPLETE loss of words. (Honestly, I had been waiting all day for his arrival, and he did not disappoint.) This guy is the same today as he was yesterday. Just like you've seen on every t.v. show he's ever done. He is LOUD; he is FLASHY; he is BOISTEROUS; and he is three little letters - F--U--N! Wow, from the moment he arrived backstage until the moment he finished working out the crowd, he never stopped. He kept us ALL laughing. He was a great way to wrap up the workout session. Kudos to Jane for inviting Richard to the festivities. He even had Billy Blanks laughing.
Now, back to the behind-the-scenes waiting...
At this point, the only two "acts" that had not rolled in backstage and through the press line yet were The Pointer Sisters and Ludacris. The Pointer Sisters came out in due time, but Ludacris didn't come through the press line until right before his time to go onstage. Because of this, Kelsey and I made the decision to sacrifice the AWESOME workout that was going on and wait for his arrival. (Another side note: You can still watch the day's event's on-line at Ustream's website. I plan on doing the workout this week!)
Finally, waiting paid off. The musical acts arrived, and the concert after the workout began:
Can I tell you all how cool it was to dance with so many other people while Ludacris sang, "HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?" We all got LOW!!!
In wrapping up this long blog post, I want to say World Fitness Day was A LOT of fun, and Kelsey & I made some wonderful new friends. A big THANK YOU goes out to Jane Fonda for organizing this very first World Fitness Day and to Sherrelle Andrews for getting a group of bloggers involved and inviting us to be part of this historic event.
It was great seeing such a huge group of people come together with one goal in mind--working out and staying healthy. Jane promised she would do it again next year, and I hope she sticks to that promise! This is a great idea and one I hope grows bigger every year! One final shot of the crew wrapping it all up:
More pictures will be available on my flikr site shortly.
