The Adventure Guys tried a new adventure recently - Zumba. Ok, tried is way too strong. I took one look at the Zumba class and decided my hips don't move that way. And even if I had moves like that I'm not even sure I could even bring myself to move that way in private.

But it was clear those who can move their hips that way - and even some who can't - don't just like Zumba. They love it. Zumba has reached full-fledged workout craze status in the South Sound area with classes at 48 local gyms.

It clearly works. I met a guy from Puyallup, Todd Hayden, who lost 100 pounds with a workout centered around Zumba.

Interested? Here's what to do:

1. Check out the story I wrote for tomorrow's paper.

2. Click here to watch video of a local Zumba class.

3. If you you like shaking what your momma gave you check out a Zumba class at one of these gyms.

SOUTH SOUNDS GYMS OFFERING ZUMBA
(For contact information or to search for more classes visit zumba.com or ask you local gym if they offer Latin dance workout classes.)
AUBURN
Corestar Pilates

DUPONT
Anytime Fitness

EATONVILLE
Eatonville Middle School

ENUMCLAW
Enumclaw Wellness Center

FEDERAL WAY
24 Hour Fitness
Bally Total Fitness
Body and Design
Federal Way Community Center
L.A. Fitness
Light of Life Lutheran Church

FIRCREST
Figures at Fircrest
Murphy Community Center

FORT LEWIS
Jensen Family Health and Fitness Center

=> Read more!

Hope you had a chance to read the article in today’s paper about Hope on the Slopes. This 24-hour ski endurance competition is a fun, albeit exhausting, way to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

This year’s event is Saturday and Sunday and half of the The Adventure Guys – Craig Hill – will be there skiing in honor of one of the Mrs. Adventure Guys, Kristen Hill, who is battling ovarian cancer.

This will be the second time I’ve skied the event. I skied 121,000 vertical feet in 23 hours back in 2006. It was an amazing experience, mostly because of the people I met. Here’s what I wrote for the TNT back then:

A BROTHER'S LOVE ENDURES

When Derek LaFramboise greeted me in the White Pass lift line at 2:30 a.m. on March 12 (2006), I thought I knew plenty about endurance.

I was 14 1/2 hours into a 24-hour ski competition called the Vertical Challenge, and I was fighting leg cramps, fatigue and numb toes from the 15-degree cold, with no intention of slowing down.

A six-minute lift ride later, I realized I was about to get an endurance lesson from Derek's 14-year-old son.

"Why are you doing this?" Derek asked.

I just wanted to know what it was like to ski for 24 hours, I replied.

"Well, let me tell you why my son is doing this," Derek said.

I'd noticed his son, Sam, about 10 hours earlier. The Yakima eighth-grader stuck out on the slopes the way a Porsche would at a tractor pull. While most skiers linked neat turns, Sam simply ripped straight down the hill like the police were after him.

=> Read more!

Laura Daugereau is in 50th place as the Iditarod Sled Dog Race gets down to serious business.

Daugereau is from Port Gamble and is the only Washingtonian competing in this year’s race.

Associated Press
Laura Daugereau, center, from Port Gamble, drives her team down Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, with Margaret Sullivan in the sled, and an unknown person in the back, during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday.

The 26-year-old musher checked out of the Skwentna checkpoint at 7:42 a.m. Alaska time (6:42 a.m. PDT). She has a full team of 16 dogs.

After a ceremonial start Saturday in Anchorage, the mushers began the 1,150-mile race Sunday in Willow.

Daugereau is running the Iditarod for the second time. She finished in 64th place last year, the first woman from Washington to complete the famed sled-dog race.

Click here for up-to-date standings.