Hindsight: Wait for the Whistle

by David G. Woolley
Editor's note: those who do not learn history are condemned to repeat it. This week its a Rocky Mountain High.

Colorado is beautiful country. Its also high altitude territory. Denver, the mile high city, is the low point in a state that sports some Nepalesque neighborhoods worthy of Everest elevations. The Associated Press reported this week that Colorado has the lowest percentage of obesity in the nation. Nineteen percent. The reporter quoted health professionals saying one reason may be the high altitude. It takes a lot more to get around. Climbing the stairs in a condo at Vail is a Colorado Iron Man event that makes even sea level Hawaiian natives flush.

John Denver, the 80's pop icon, sorta country western, guitar slinging, outdoorsy, blond headed Colorado poster child got it all going with his Rocky Mountain High. He was right. Even the recipe people are cashing in on the altitude. Patricia Kendall, Editor at the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Program has a new book out. High Altitude Baking. The Associated Press also reported that Coloradoans are exercise enthusiasts. And they do it all above five thousand feet. High altitude skiing. High altitude hiking. High altitude camping. High altitude ski diving. No kidding. We saw the billboard ad along I-70 near Aspen. Its reportedly much safer than, say, low altitude sky diving. There's also high altitude hang gliding, high altitude golfing, and my favorite: high altitude scuba diving. I don't get that one.

We did some high altitude soccer this week at the base of Pike's Peak near Colorado Springs. All that running around at high elevation didn't seem to phase any of the Colorado players. The Associated Press may have gotten that one wrong. I didn't find a single obese player on their roster. We were light headed the first day and dizzier the second. Lucky for us on the third day we played the Minnesota state champions. The people in that state are resilient. You have to be tough to get through the cold Midwestern winter months. September 1st through May 31st. The match should have been a battle, but the Minnesota boys could hardly move after three days without oxygen. Lucky for them the referee blew the whistle and ended their suffocating loss. Rangers 5. Minnesota 1.

Hindsight: If you can't afford to give away your gym membership and move to Colorado to keep fit, do what they do in Minnesota when things aren't going so well. Hunker down and wait for the referee to blow the whistle. There's always another game tomorrow.

Thanks for joining us at the end of yet another Top of the Morning week. Come back next week when posts will include a blog titled Vicariously Speaking. Its a look at what's behind all the good people do in the world. You'll also enjoy another weekly post on food titled Healthy Snacks. It's the fifth in a summer of food talk on the Top of the Morning. We're also pleased to present the fifth Promised Land post where author David G. Woolley goes in depth on the research and inspiration behind the characters and story lines of his Book of Mormon Promised Land Historical Fiction Series. This week on the Promised Land its a look at ancient blacksmithing and why the closing book of the Old Testament may have used a silversmith analogy. The title? The Refiners Fire. Its an introduction to another post later this month on an ancient New World ritual that deepens our understanding of Alama's plea to take upon each of us the countenance of Christ (Alma 5: 14, 19). And don't forget to joins us at the end of the week for another installment of Hindsight.

Until then, Top of the Morning to you.

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website. He is also a weekly contributor to the Latter Day Authors blog and he writes commentary and opinion at the Utah Ranger's Far Post blog