Exercise, then and NOW

I suppose that if you truly want to do something you will make it a priority in your day. Perhaps this is a little insight into why I have such trouble ‘fitting’ exercise into most of my days. This realization is rather depressing. I’ve always thought of myself as ‘athletic’, yet I don’t make exercise a priority in my days. I put everything else ahead of it. So most days do not include exercise of any kind. The days I finally get to it, it’s already dark. While this is excellent during the holidays with all the lights in the neighborhood, it’s not quite as enticing after the lights go out. There is just something so magical about being outside, in the dark, with all of the Christmas lights, the silence and if I’m lucky, a beautiful light snow. I even have my ‘snow tire’ running shoes for the snow and ice.

For the first 6 weeks of the diet, my exercise was very sporadic. So if you read the blog on exercise last week, you know that I have lost some muscle along with the fat, in the 16 lbs. I’ve lost so far. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE PEOPLE!! Who has the time to purposefully exercise for 30 minutes, 5 days a week? Uh, I know this one, pick me, pick me … I DO. I get out of work at 1 pm; well usually I do, this month has actually had me leaving work at 2 - 3. "What", you say, "is wrong with that? I get out at 4 or 5". Yup, you’re absolutely right. The gym is on my way home, the road is right outside of my house, what could possibly keep me from doing what I know I should be doing when I do have the time?

I seem to have trouble with any type of scheduling. Staying consistent has never been one of my better attributes. There always seems to be one more mundane daily task that I put ahead of my own well-being. The masses facetiously chant, “Gee Tami, we don’t know anything about that!!” WE ALL KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THAT!! I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve put on my running clothes so I’ll be ready after I’ve eaten and done ‘a few’ other things; only to find that, hours later, I’m still in my running clothes and the only running I’ve done is to get the laundry before it wrinkles, or vacuumed the house from end to end, ran to feed the animals, ran to pick up Austin (thank god he has a car now), ran to get groceries, ran for other errands. By the time I remember I need to go running, it’s time to run to my chair and collapse!!

While not all days are like that, most days I could do something. Of course there are crazy days, like last Friday. I got out of work at 3 (2 hours later than scheduled), had to rush home to eat something, had to rush to the grocery store because I started Step 2 and needed to get a few things, got home at 5:30, finished putting away groceries by 6, Dan cooked so we ate at 6:15, dishes done by 6:45, cleaned up various messes all over the house from the morning and getting home to drop everything, sat down for 15 minutes to read email, got dressed to go to a dance party at 8:15. We then danced from 8:45 to 11pm. Now finally I actually did get some exercise! Talk about collapsing after a busy day. But I had my sketcher’s on all afternoon so my feet were still going strong. Anyway …..

For the past 2 weeks I’ve exercised at least 4 days a week. The old feeling is coming back to my jogging. I really jog now. In the past I would always strive to go further AND faster. How can I put this? … In the past 5 years I’ve come to realize that certain parts of my body can no longer take certain stress. From a torn ACL and PCL in my right leg and some sort of pain in my left knee, whenever I start to push my running I have to ice my knee. I have found that if I just jog the whole way, there is no pain. That’s good enough for me. If you have ever been into running, then you know why I must continue. There is a certain feeling you get that is really hard to explain, I think they call it ‘runners high’, so for now I will be slow; and happy about it:). The gym has seen my face 2 days a week for the past 2 weeks. I do 10 minutes cardio warm-up and 30 minutes of lifting weights. That’s normally one cycle of a whole-body workout that I do.

So hey, let’s get off our butts and do SOMETHING! I have big plans of longer runs this year! Dust off your tread mills, your ab machines, your dogs, your stair machines, your clothes holders (uhm, sorry, all of the machines I just mentioned), your dozens of workout tapes, your sneakers, your jog bras/jock straps and recapture the feeling of well-being that naturally comes with moving our bodies! Before you know it, it’ll be 8 weeks down the road and you’ll be looking forward to your next workout.:)