With two fun runs circled on my weekend (how to escape yard work) calendar — Saturday with the inspiring LatinRunners and Sunday in Fort Langley with the always-active MEC crew — I kind of wondered (OK, maybe panicked) how this jogger-blogger was going to handle back-to-back events for the first time since they invented colour TV.
Lluvia Meneses, the award-winning CEO and founder of the all-women LatinRunners (click HERE for more info), wasn’t taking no for an answer on her invite to this Saturday’s inaugural Latin Family Run at Central Park in Burnaby. More than 300 people are lacing up for the sold-out family event, all of them who run like the wind — and shout, and scream, and wave banners, and yell crazy things like “1, 2, 3 Latin Runners … a correeeeer.”
So, to keep up with these speedy Latin goddesses for at least the first 200 metres, I needed some intel on what makes them tick. We already know they talk!
For a photo recap of Monday’s zumba class, click HERE.
Enter my friend Elena Villacis. The bubbly owner of Fiesta Latina Fitness, who last month warmed up the annual Vistas Run crowd before participants tackled the trails in Maple Ridge, offered to help.
“Come to my zumba class and we’ll help get you in better shape. Bring your water, smile and dancing shoes!”
Somehow that simple invite translated into a “Man vs. Women Sex Challenge” at her studio on Monday.
“Ditch the workout and join the party,” smiling trainer Claudia Yung repeated as we entered the clean and spacious Maple Ridge studios in Fitwells For Women Gym along Dewdney Truck Road.
The first Man vs. Women Sex Challenge, easily won by the women but enjoyed by all, token group shot!
For the next hour, this sweat-soaked scribe learned a few things: It’s so easy to forget the difference between left and right; shaking your booty and moving some other body part at the same time is much easier said than done; mirrors aren’t always flattering; and zumba fitness guru Alberto Beto Perez must have had a wicked sense of humour!
For the record we all had a blast. The hour zipped by incredibly fast and nobody stopped smiling.
“You can go at your own pace, you don’t need to know how to dance, and you can burn many calories while having fun,” Villacis said after the workout.
One lady revealed she lost 30 pounds in four months by attending daily zumba classes with Villacis. Another said she got addicted to the social aspect and now drags several of her friends to the classes to experience an “exercise that isn’t boring.”
It was pointed out there’s zumba for seniors (wonder if they do crazy sex challenges?) zumba for toning, aqua zumba, zumba for couples and corporate events, zumba fundraisers and zumba-til-you-drop. And Fiesta Latina Fitness has salsa lessons and other exercise options, but that’s another blog.
Villacis admitted the fitness business “saved” her from some “serious depression.”
“I am doing this all from the heart. I am passionate about dancing and exercise and helping people. There is so much positive energy in zumba. The people come here to socialize, for stress-release and to get in better shape. Before I did this, I had some struggles with my life and things weren’t always happy,” said Villacis.
Yung, besides being a great trainer, is a close friend of Villacis and mentioned how running Fiesta Latina Fitness has been a rebirth of positive energy for Villacis. Both point to Fitwells For Women as being “great, supportive, flexible and encouraging” in helping the popular business grow.
So, I eventually asked, how did I do?
For an hour in Maple Ridge, participants in Fiesta Latina Fitness’s ‘zumba challenge’ had a blast. The women seemed better at remembering the moves compared to their male rivals. Just saying!
“Well, you didn’t give up and you tried everything,” smiled Villacis. “It’s not important that you do everything right the first time.” (I’m sure that’s Latin code for “are you kidding me dude?”)
“We are non-judgmental here,” added Yung. “It’s all about having fun and trying new things. Nobody cares if you were perfect. Just coming here and trying it is an accomplishment.”
Yep, they are very kind people, who obviously have done “spin” classes in the past!
While I may never become a Zumba King, or be able to do half the moves or “shake it until I break it,” I would go back for another Man vs. Women Sex Challenge as long as they do more of those “cowboy roping” and arm-pointing thingys — the only two moves I kinda nailed in an hour filled with “rookie mistakes!”
If you’re in Villacis’ neighbourhood, and want a workout to remember, click HERE for more information about her fun fitness group. It will be time well spent. And the people are second to none. In fact, her young company is already paying it forward by saving funds to donate to the Maple Ridge Hospital Foundation.
OK Latin Family Run, you’re next! I’m ready to zoom(ba)! Or in other words, “1,2,3 Latin Runners … here comes Gordy!”
FOOT NOTES: There’s still time to enter Langley MEC’s Trans Canada Trail event this Sunday in Fort Langley. The event features a marathon, point-to-point half marathon, 10K and 5K. For more information, click HERE.
Gotta run ….
Trainer Claudia Yung, left, works out with zumba classmates on Monday and played a big role in creating a party-like atmosphere in Maple Ridge.
Filed under: COMMUNITY, Fitness, Fun on the Run, Health, Sports Tagged: Alberto Beto Perez, Burnaby, Canada, Central Park, Claudia Yung, Elena Villacis, Fort Langley, Maple Ridge Hospital Foundation, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Zumba, Zumba King
