lol to both :)

I don't think many people have that phobia but probably because most people have never heard of the activity!!

i am sooooo out of the loop. but if i were coming to the retreat this year, i would be ALL over this. you ladies HAVE to do it. it will be so much fun!! :)

Poodle, PLEASE come if you can! We kinda miss you around here.

Good news on the course: I *might* be able to move it to Saturday morning. That fixes ALL the scheduling issues, since nobody has to rush in on Day One. We could do an evening sweat Friday night, and a morning sweat on Saturday. Those who don't want to do the course can stay and do the morning sweat, and those who DO want to do the course can do the Friday sweat. Everyone gets to do everything they want to do...unless there's a hugely uneven number of people who want to do the course, that is.

Also, Angie will be returning this year (those of you on the Facebook events page for the retreat know this), and today at lunch she confirmed to me that she'll offer to do a final "women's round" of the sweat after me and James complete the traditional four rounds, for those who want to sweat with her again. StehtFest, Angie's round might be a good one for you to try.

Matt - you are the man. This all sounds fab and I loved Angie's sweat round. I am glad that she is coming back. :)

Sthet,

I think Angies round would be perfect for you to try. It is way less intense and could get you acclimated to the environment of the sweat slowly. Maybe you could do that round the first night and see if you do okay with that and try the other rounds the next day if you feel up to it? I am soooooooo off topic right now lol sorry.

What Megs you are actually talking about the retreat and not about jumping out of helicopters onto an ostrich? - how disappointing.
Megan made a good point though Steht - Angie's round was very gentle and very supportive and I don't remember it being as dark, but I think that is my memory rather than the reality (my eyes had probably become accustomed to the dark by then). Certainly the heat was much less intense.

My only regret was pushing myself to do all of the rounds..totally underestimated the strain on body..so I didn't make it through angie's round.

So my advice to newbies and people trying the sweats would be to listen to your body; it knows when it has had enough.

The challenge course has been moved to Saturday morning! This is good news because it relaxes our schedule, especially for people traveling in on Friday.

Great!! Can we tell you on later? I am leaning toward "yes." I was thinking about doing the triathlon for the first time. It was so amazing because all of the women support each other and are so proud of one another for attempting something that they thought they could not do before.

I was just reminded this over the weekend when I found out a friend of mine does triathlons and she was doing an even longer one. We had a little email exchange. She writes that she is proud of me for doing tris.

I thought that this rope course will be that same sense of togetherness, empowerment and accomplishment.

So leaning more "yes" than "no." :)

I'd say, choose yes and then just advance through the levels to the point you feel comfortable. That's the benefit of a three-tiered course, it's not all-or-none. You do what you want to do, and that's cool.

Will Angie do a round both days? I'd love to try it this year.

Steht, Angie's round would be perfect for you. I agree, you should try it on Friday night. It's so pretty and she is so cool!

Angie tells me that she intends to do that, yeah. She's eager to come back, and just today we were talking about it.

I say "yes"., then. It did not take much for me to shift. :)

"Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson