The other weekend I attended Self Magazine's Workout in the Park event. I registered online to attend this workout in Central Park. The magazine hosted the event and included several vendors and lots of outdoor workout classes. The host of the day was Z100's own Danielle Monaro, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning. The day started with me waking up at 6:30am on a Saturday morning, not my idea of a fun weekend, but the day went on to prove me wrong. I got ready and headed to a local bagel shop. I picked up bagels and met up with my friends. We then took the 45 minute bus ride into port authority, times square. We then continued to walk from 42nd street to the vent location in Central Park, 69th and 5th ave. By the time we arrived at our spot in line I realized I did not choose the right sneakers for the day. I should also mention the day of the event the weather was gorgeous, but made the workouts more challenging with the sun beating down on you all day.
After waiting in line, the event began! The event consisted of 20 minute workout classes all day until 3pm. We started with the morning yoga class. After we were finished with yoga, we made our way to the main stage where Danielle Monaro was announcing the classes. She is a part of the Z100 morning show, a very funny radio show I have made my routine to listen to every morning on the way to work. Anyway, we also ended up running into a gym instructor that works at the gym I attend. So we began our workout. In all we attended six of the workout classes provided. The yoga class was called Sunrise Salutations, then we went on to Ab Attack, Masala Bhangra-a bollywood/zumba inspired workout, Retro-Robics, LaBlast- designed exclusively for Crunch by three time world champion and ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" dancer and choreographer Louis Van Amstel, it led us through various dance genres combining exhilarating body movements and creative routines to burn fat and blast away calories, and the last class was Beach Body. All the classes were instructed by Crunch Gym employees. It was a lot of fun, even though space was limited.
In between some of the workouts we had time to fill our bags with free stuff. I received two reusable bags along with many beauty and health products. Although, I do wish they provided more cold water, but the event was still a lot of fun. After heating up in the park we jumped in a cab and headed to a Blockheads near port authority. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Blockheads, it is a chain of small mexican restaurants that is delicious. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and visit one of the restaurants-I promise you will not regret it!! We sat outside and enjoyed our food and frozen margaritas. YUM :)
After relaxing for a bit, it was time to walk another 12 or so blocks back to the bus at port authority. After falling asleep on the way, we made it back home. However, the night was still young. As much as I wanted to just curl up in bed and sleep for the rest of the night, I went home only to shower and go back out. This time I was headed to Palisades Mall, a four story mega-mall in New York. We enjoyed dinner at Dave and Busters-a Chuck E Cheese for grown ups, and then saw Fast Five for my second time. I have become obsessed with this movie. While many will say the movie is very unrealistic, it is still a fun escape to watch over and over again. I should also mention for those of you going to see the movie, make sure you stay and watch the extra scene after the credits! You will not be disappointed.
After the movie we headed back home, and the long day was finally over. It was one of the most amazing trips I had to new york, then again to me every trip to new york is amazing. I think every time I go to the city it is always an adventure and always incredibly remarkable. Although, this trip did make me appreciate my home, out of the busy life of the city streets. The day was filled with fitness and happiness, and I can't wait to do it all over again next year!
