Tonight, our friends at Gallagher’s Fitness will be hosting the first or many On Your Feet Fridays. It works like this: show up to Gallagher’s before 6:15PM and get yourself a passport. Take that passport to as many locations around town as you can in 45 minutes and be back to Gallagher’s to enter for prizes. One stop (and the only stop in West Salem) will be the West Salem Courthouse. The more places you visit, the more chances you have to win various prizes. One prize is free entrance into Monday’s C2V (Courthouse 2 Venti’s) event.

The last station, the push-up station, at the C2V is going to be Gallagher’s Fitness. Susan and John told me they would stay open and let folks complete their 50 or 100 push-ups inside their shop before they headed over to Venti’s for good, clean food and good, good beer. Summer is not officially here, but it sure feels like it. And even if the sun wasn’t shining as bright as it is, we still live in a town, in a place in the world, that calls us to get out there.

I tell those in my Spartan group, “You are doing what you’re doing, you’re training, to enjoy life. Think of what you want to enjoy and work hard now so you can enjoy life as life happens.”

Alexis, one woman in my group, told me today, “Michael, last night I ran 8 miles and 8 miles never felt so good. I enjoyed it. I felt like I could have just kept going. Thanks.”

Why pursue fitness? Because life is beautiful. And life is its most beautiful when we can experience it exactly how we want.

Why put on silly events and why run around in the sunlight and why support the idea of a fitter, more active Salem? For the exact same reason. Because life is beautiful and it is meant to be experienced on our own terms and in the company of others who can share in our accomplishments.

The sun is going to shine late into the evening today. It is going to shine all weekend, straight through BurgundyFest and into Monday night as people swim and bike and run and push-up and jump around and drink beer and eat food and laugh and smile.

Out there is right there in front of your nose. Get out there.