This weekend, I was invited to participate in “The Pinnacle Challenge,” a three-day fitness retreat in Palm Springs (thepinnaclechallenge.com). I think the publicist thought that the managing editor of Body Beautiful magazine must be in good enough condition to take on this challenge. She was sorely mistaken.                                                  

I rolled into Palm Springs Friday night at 9:45 and at precisely 10:11 p.m.,  a 4.2 earthquake rumbled through the town! I should have heeded that very clear warning from God and gone home.

Don’t get me wrong – this fitness retreat in the desert is a GREAT way for athletes and serious fitness enthusiasts to spend the weekend. But taking a 4-hour hike up an 11,000-foot mountain is really not something someone who hasn’t hiked since she was a Girl Scout should do.

I was really out of my league at this fitness retreat, which is more like a bed-and-breakfast boot camp that includes hikes, yoga, water aerobics, circuit training, massage and organic, vegetarian meals. We stayed at the very darling Desert House Inn, a historical hotel one block from the main drag in Palm Springs.  There were 12 participants -- 2 of us were journalists; the rest (all women and one guy) were superb athletes, die-hard fitness enthusiasts who are into extreme sweating.

To give you an idea of the kind of shape these women were in:  One of the program directors, Lisa Austin, whose forearms Michelangelo couldn’t have sculpted better, is a fitness trainer who helped train Martina Navratilova and Jennifer Capriati at one time. Lisa was a real sweetheart who stayed behind with me as I lumbered my way up the trail. (Thank you, Lisa!) But at the end of our slow climb up, she had so much unused energy that she ran all the way back down! Unreal! Another woman, Meredith (one of the nicest people I’ve ever met), is a circuit trainer whose goal is to own a fitness studio someday. She was the bruiser in the group who wore a 10-pound vest during her hikes because she wanted to "maximize" her workout.

I haven’t hiked in a very long time, and this weekend, I discovered why: It's really not very fun. Huffing and puffing, trying not to slip and fall on jagged rocks, walking into people's kicked-up dust clouds, tasting grit, blisters, leg burn, peeing behind trees . . . really!  What is sooo great about hiking?? I don't get it!   OK, you're one with nature. But I can get that from a picnic at the park.  I don't need to take a torturous 11,000-foot hike to appreciate nature.          

Yes, we saw some deer and that was incredible,  but I also expected to see wolves since I heard they prey on the weakest animal in the herd.  I was worried.                                                            

Everyone was preaching about how important it is to step outside your comfort zone.  Well, I did exactly that by going on the hike. And in the process, I discovered that I really like my comfort zone. (But I will admit that the views from the San Jacinto Mountains were worth the climb.)

Anyway, there was another hike at 6:00 this morning. I opted not to go.  I told Robin, the program’s founder, that "hiking just isn't my thing." I don't care if they thought I was a lightweight. I'm not going to pretend to enjoy something that I HATE!                                                                         

So the plan was that they'd go on the hike and return at 9:30 for yoga, water aerobics, lunch and then circuit training, with the weekend ending at 3:30. While they were hiking, I packed to kill some time. And as I'm loading my car, I'm thinking:  Why not just go home NOW?? Skip the granola-and-rice-milk breakfast, hit a Denny's on the way home for a Grand Slam and get home with plenty of time to putter around the house before I have to pick up my kids from their dad’s house? I left my cat alone for 2 days and was worried about her. I had a plumber out on Saturday to snake the pipes on the outside of the house, so I wanted to make sure I could wash dishes and laundry. And, quite frankly, I missed my comfort zone.
 
So off I went, leaving Palm Springs in MY dust. And I am now officially a Boot-Camp Dropout.