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MURRIETA, Calif. — Raise your hand if you hate running. Keep it high in the air if you hate getting up early to run in the cold and in the dark. Keep your hand up (it may be the only exercise you get today - am I right?) if you would pull money out of your wallet and pay for the experience.

Maybe it was the too-tight fitting jeans. Perhaps it was a glance in the mirror that featured my already round face, a tad rounder. Most likely, it was the voice in my head telling me this was the time to finally do something about the way I was looking and feeling.

I hate no one, but there are some things I absolutely despise. Like having the alarm clock blare at 4:45 a.m. then wrenching myself from a warm bed on a dark, cold winter morning. I hate running, jogging or any exercise that makes me sweaty and gross in my layered ensemble.

Hate is a strong word as words of passion often are. Yet hate was somehow twisted around and I can sincerely say that I absolutely love that I signed up for Boot Camp!

Make that Temecula Adventure Boot Camp for Women.

Allow me explain:

This past Christmas, The California Badillos drove to Albuquerque and were subsequently pounded by one of your many record breaking snowstorms. While in town for 10 days, I missed out on seeing some family and friends due to the conditions. However, I was glad to leave New Mexico for one very personal reason: lack of self control.

You'll recall this past December - stories of travelers who suffered for hours in cold cars or cramped hotel rooms due to the snow. They had it easy. I suffered cabin fever of the worst kind, having free access to my mother-in-law's "bakery."

Pauline Badillo is the best cook, baker and pizza-maker in the world. No contest. And true to her Italian upbringing, the woman is very generous with the goods. It doesn't help that Elizabeth, my sister-in-law, takes after her mother and is also a fabulous cook.

Christmas - and Pauline's Kitchen of Temptation - tipped the scales for me. I knew when I returned to California, drastic measures would be necessary.

The first week back in southern California, I revisited a Web site I had mentally filed away. This was it. No more random weekend warrior workouts. No more self-created diets of "cutting back on the sweets."

Translation: passing on the sprinkled chocolate frosted deep fried donut while justifying the less caloric, plain, deep-fried version. No more lamenting that I couldn't find the time or energy to work out. It was time to grow up and quit growing out.

I contacted Amy Bradley, the owner and operator of the Temecula Valley Adventure Boot Camp for Women. A week before showing up for camp, Amy gets you over to her place for paperwork and measurements. She measures all the obvious parts, then pinches your fat (a lovely experience) with a plastic clothespin-like apparatus. You get weighed and screened for overall health issues.

After first meeting Amy, a small yet powerfully built woman with a quiet demeanor, I got to thinking, "How bad can this actually be?"

By the end of the first week, Amy had me whining like Richard Gere in "An Officer and a Gentleman": "I have nowhere else to go!"

With a quiet mastery of her recruits, Amy reigns supreme. During our first hour-long session she sized us up as a group. Then it seemed, she studied us individually for our strengths, weaknesses and possibly how far she could push us.

I signed on for the 5:30 a.m. class. There is also a 9 a.m. class. Those girls get to sleep in later and likely, wear less sweaty layers. For our early morning group it was dark and cold. (Not Albuquerque cold, of course, but at 5-anything in the morning, cold is cold.) We accessorize with gloves, scarves and hats. If we wanted, we could make smoke rings with our breath.

After a warm-up of stretches and jumping jacks, Amy pulled the dreaded running card. Our DI introduced us that first day to the "small loop."

Not so bad. I didn't say I couldn't run. I just prefer not to. Next was a lap around the "large loop." In my case, those first few days of camp, it was a run, walk, run, walk, around the big loop. It got better.

Adventure Boot Camp meets at different city parks which helps keep boredom at bay. Some mornings she literally has us running through hoops. We jump rope, do relay runs, hike or run up steep hills, lift weights and do a variety of killer sit-ups. And what would any Boot Camp be without push-ups?

I'd often read about it, but for the first time in my life I experienced a measured success in losing fat and gaining muscle. How excited I was to learn that I actually trimmed 2 inches from my waist. The particulars: Gained 2.25 lean mass. Lost 2.75 fat mass. Boot Camp success!

My goal is to form a regular workout habit. I had intended to sign up for one month, and then go on my own. I soon found that I really wanted to re-enlist in order to have a regimen for a little longer.

Most women sign for one session and end up returning for at least 2 more camps. I can relate. I know myself and my love for all donuts, not just the ones with sprinkles. I decided to stick with Amy's program for one more month, this time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, in order to have someone push me a little longer.

I needed a challenge, and I found the right one for me. I'm better for the experience and I challenge anyone, old, young, man, woman, child to get up and exercise.

It doesn't have to be at 5:30 a.m. and you don't even have to run.

Heck, just stay inside and bounce around to a favorite CD. Just move. Walk or lift some weights. Get your blood pumping and you'll feel better. We're a nation of donut-eating, pizza scrafing, instant gratification junkies. Because we're exposed to so many edible temptations we have to counter it with something. Get out and find what works for you.

You can put your hand down now. Then drop and give me 20.