Wednesday, February 18, 2009

mind over matter


This exercise thing is going way better than I would have hoped. I was thinking about it today as a way to keep myself motivated, and this is the scoreboard so far.


Twelve pounds down - and redistributed somehow.


I'm up to running three and a half miles at a time, and it's actually not been bad. I'm slow, but I get there. Three days a week I meet a friend at the gym and we keep each other honest. It's also good because we're switching up what we do, which keeps me from getting bored.


My ankle is doing great. Thank god. The first day I ran, I iced it and popped a handful of Ibuprofen but it never even twinged. I'm still hyper vigilant, but it hasn't been a bit of an issue.


The big one is that I just feel better. More energy, calmer, sleep like a rock. These are all very good things.


The first weekend in March I'm running a St. Patrick's Day 5K with a lot of co-workers as a charity fundraiser. It's the first organized run I've ever done, and I'm still not quite sure how I got roped into it. I'd never realized how Type A some of the people I work with are, and there's a lot of pride on the line here. There are a bunch of us who are just hoping and praying that we can drag our sorry bodies over the finish line in less than ten hours. On the other hand, any race that ends in a bar can't be all bad. Green beer and all.


Today I did a one hour power weightlifting class that makes me shake with fear at the thought of getting out of bed tomorrow morning. This will not be pretty. It's already ugly tonight. Where the hell did I put the Ibuprofen?


This is the physical - and final - component of the emotional cleanse I've been immersed in for the last year. All the bad crap has been raised to the surface, and now all I have to do is flush it completely out of my system. For good. Every drop of sweat is healing in an oddly profound way. I feel like a million bucks.


Until tomorrow morning.

8 comments:

That Janie Girl said...

Awesome. You are kicking butt and taking names.

Irene said...

Good for you! Remember when you could not even imagine feeling this way? And look at you now. You've come a long way in a relatively short time.

Susan said...

A hot shower will do wonders for your aching muscles. Take one tonight and one tomorrow morning. Stretch while you are in there.

Keep at it - I am impressed!

Devon said...

Wow RC, fantastic! You are taking care of so many and it is great that you are taking care of yourself along the way!

Don't worry about tomorrow... mornings are highly over rated!

Maggie May said...

RC........ You put me to shame! All that running. I have a job to run for a bus, these days.
Running makes you feel good. The endorphins (is that it?) I am sure you know more than I do! LOL

Madam Crunchypants said...

so awesome!!

If you're up to 3.5 miles, you'll kick the ass of the 5k - you're already doing about 5 and a half kilometers

Pam said...

it's great that one, you are losing weight, and two, you can run 3.5 miles. goodness i can't even run 1 yard haha i've been exercising far more than i ever have and cannot budge the stupid scale. maybe i need emotional cleansing? house decluttering? i don't know...now if i can just keep my tsh where it is now that could help

Anonymous said...

Are you running outside or on a treadmill? Word to the wise? If your 5K is outside (and it is) get out and start running outside. Going from 'mill to road or gravel is a reality check, let me tell you. You don't want that check in the middle of the race.

You rock, RC. You rock.