Skip to main content

Bragging Rights

I joined a new gym yesterday. I tend to have love/hate relationships with the gym. I love the environment--slamming weights, huffing runners, and even the snooty exercise classes. I hate paying for it, thinking I have enough "stuff" at home to run my own gym. Yesterday I decided to go ahead and get a new membership because it will get me out of the house and the unpredictable rain has really hampered my running lately.

So I stopped in today for my short run training. You know how I feel about running. I love the pounding feet and the solitude of being wrapped up in my own head. In fact, I often workout without music because the silent repetitiveness is soothing for me and helps me think through my life in really strange ways. Like, I've been working on my conversational Spanish lately, and I spent the entire time on the treadmill talking to myself in Spanish.

Today I hopped on the treadmill with the goal of completing 1.5 miles. I'm new to this and trying to work up to what I hope will one day be a 13 mile run. I had no expectations today except to finish the distance. Guess what? I did the entire 1.5 miles alternating between 2 minutes of walking at 3 mph and 1 minute of running at 5 mph. By the time I was finished my face was the color of raspberries, my hair was soaked, and I had sweat covering every inch of my body.

I sat in the car and relished the feeling of accomplishment. Of blood pulsating through my veins. Of my heart pounding in my chest. Of endorphins flushing out all the frustration of my day. There was no doubt in my mind that I have found a special place where I can beat out the crap in my head and walk away feeling renewed. I knew today more than ever before just how much I love running and how much I've missed this feeling.

I can't wait for tomorrow when I hit the weights.
Labels:

Comments

Christy said…
Go girl!
6:42 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy Days Ahead

It's been a busy week for me. I left my house at 4:30 Monday morning for my drive down south and pulled back in my driveway at 1:20 this morning. The days have been long, too, between working at the new school from 7:30 until 3:00 or 4:00 and then working at the new place until 9:00 or 10:00 each night. I now have callouses on my fingers and not one intact finger nail. I think I've also developed a new twitch somewhere on my face. One afternoon this week, I stood in the middle of our new living room and took in the sight of missing drywall, a growing hole in the floor and soaked up my husband's predictions that we still won't be ready to paint by the weekend. All I wanted to do was cry. All I felt was nothingness. Numbness. Anyone who has ever reached the point of numbness knows that it's scarier than feeling like you're falling apart. It's one step beyond feeling like you're falling apart. I couldn't help but wonder just what we had gotten ourselves
5 comments
Read more

The Carnival

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in southwest Florida, although still a bit too warm for my November tastes. I'm learning to enjoy my weekends with as much unstructured and unscheduled time as possible. Last Saturday was a delightful unstructured day. A new friend of mine (the one from the Everglades excursion) and I went to a local carnival. Now, here's the thing...I LOVE carnivals. The food. The people. The rides. The lights. I can easily spend an entire day wandering through the crowds. He's no carnival slouch. The first thing we did was walk through the entire place, scoping out the rides. Then the fun began. We rode almost every ride there (except for the kiddie attractions and the broken Tornado). The Wild Claw. The Scrambler. The Orbiter. The Space Oddysey. The Swings. The Pharaoh's Fury. The Ferris Wheel. The Giant Slide. The Haunted House. The Avalanche. It was all good. How can you top a ride that uses centrifugal force to plaster your body against
2 comments
Read more

Stranger Obligations

I had to make a few difficult decisions this week. At least, they were difficult for me. I wish I could be the kind of person who completely makes decisions based on his/her own needs and wants and boldly moves through life with unabashed freedom from how our choices affect others. But I'm not built like that. I had placed an ad for my former stray. I felt like it was time to find her a more permanent home because so much in my life right now is uncertain. One person answered the ad, but she did not seem like a good fit, and I gave up further thought. This week I received another response. As long as this person is telling the truth, it's an ideal situation for the dog. Yet, I had a strange feeling and could not sort out whether or not it was my intuition kicking in or that fact that I actually like the dog and don't want to see her go. In the end, I decided that it was in my own (and my Winnipeg's) best interest for her to stay with us through the summer. (I seri
5 comments
Read more