Days 4 & 5 - Wow!

I think WOW is quickly becoming my new and favorite word. After day 3's "Club Power" class I was left with burning thighs, aching arms and a new found respect for the ice and tylenol bottle. I told myself that I would take Friday off and let my poor fat thighs rest. Well I kinda forgot that I told my co-worker that we would do the "big walk" today. Oh hell. The big walk - I'll have to post pictures soon. It involves walking from our business park, up a dirty overpass, into a beautiful church park and down 77 concrete very steep, designed by satan himself down into the downtown part of Santa Cruz. From there we walk a few feet into one of the most wonderful mexican restaurants around. We order "super tacos" which don't shoot me just yet - 2 fresh corn tortillas topped with a ton of lettuce, tomato, shredded chicken and avacado. NOTHING like you were thinking right? Its very good. And damn cheap $5 for a very rewarding lunch. So today, we have a few extra people and I have yet to figure out just WHO said it but after lunch, as we headed back UP those satanic 77 stairs, it was taunted "last one up sucks". Oh hell no. I am the youngest of this group, albeit the most out of shape and I wasn't going down in a ball of flames like that. We pounded those stairs like there was no tomorrow. Wow -- I RAN up 77 stairs to save face. Well hell...whatever gets you there right?
The rest of the walk back to the office was filled with laughter, jokes and good times. I am blessed that I have found such a good core group of people that I know I can rely on come sun or rain that will help me along this journey. Interesting thought I had -- I don't earn a lot of points for these walks but its the point that I'm making time for myself each and everyday by taking a walk, to get out of the office, to put down that file for 45 minutes and take some personal time. What a concept huh. For that, I am probably the most thankful.
So Today - day 5. Saturday. I'm having trouble with my Zumba classes. At the gym, they offer them pretty much every day with about 4 different instructors and if there is one thing I've learned through my journey, its that I crave familiarity, tradition and continuity. Never thought much about it but I really like doing the same thing over and over. It sets a benchmark in my mind that I can measure against. So today, new zumba instructor and I did it -- I broke my cardinal rule of leaving a class before it was over. I stuck it out for 45 minutes and then I quickly and quietly slipped out the back door. I just couldn't get into it. This new teacher incorporated a lot more belly dancing and east indian moves and well....my belly was moving a lot more than it was supposed to. Good lord, it was like watching Santa trying to do a pole dance. Not a good scene and for Gods' sake there were children present! And in my mind, I couldn't be done with only 45 minutes under my belt. I grabbed my ipod from the lockerroom and headed upstairs. Hadn't decided what to do but my thighs were still burning - not quite sure what I was thinking here, but probably was thinking about MichaelAnn's post on FB about using the bike as her workout. I commented on being so impressed about a 15 mile jaunt and she commented back tht it was so much easier on a bike. Well this I just HAD to see for myself. I remembered how to adjust the seat for my short little legs and climbed on. Entered my info and selected a "random hills" setting for 45 minutes. HO-LY crap! Oh and I set the resistance for a 10. I hit that first hill and just about died! Resistance quickly got re-set to 7. There...thats more like it. I set out to pedal my little heart out. I had a magazine and my ipod going and before I knew it -- I had biked 5 miles! WTF?? I was shocked as well....lots. Put my ipod on and pedaled some more. By the time that my butt was numb, I decided it was time to quit. Looked again at the screen and I was floored. I had been riding for 36 minutes and pedaled my way just past 10 miles! Could that be right? No way, no how.
Then I climed off the bike.
Oh yeah...it could be true.
Where on earth did I lose that disconnect between hurting thighs and pedaling would be a good thing? LOL. I somehow made it down the stairs to the locker room where I met a wonderful lady. We talked a little bit about Zumba and finding that perfect balance for yourself. As I walked way to the shower, she called after me "you know sweetie - You're already a winner. You came here today". I instantly felt better about myself, smiled and I thought about her as I showered and thought "wow...amazing how a perfect stranger can offer some simple words and touch someone like that". I want to do that too. As I was leaving, I saw this lady again and I offered up "have a good day". She replied "I will and you are going to have a great day - you're making changes".
Wow.

Day 3 - Feel the Burn

Wow - so I tried a new class at the gym yesterday. Club Power. Involved 2 different sets of hand weights, a bar weight, a step thing on 2 risers and a lady in front of the class wearing a speaker headset that I swear couldn't count to save her life. LOL -- We'd start doing these reps of lunges and just when I thought we're done? Oh no...she'd bust out with "all right - thats a good start, 20 more". ?? Whah??
Hour long class and about 15 minutes in, I'm looking around wondering just how un-couth it is to sneak out the side door and go hide? Being the sucker for rules that I am, I stuck it out. Thankfully the class did seem to pass quickly and we were ALWAYS moving! I had a really hard time in the begining with using the risers for one leg while doing evil lunges with the bar weight. The most intense pain evah came apparent in my arch. I had to stop and rub it out. It freakin hurt like hell. So I modified the movements and didn't use the riser. Still not quite sure what caused it but damn - that hurt. I might go back to the running store and buy those inserts.
Oh -- and after we did all those hundred million squats and lunges and pulses with that evil weights? Then came the ab work. We laid down on the riser (really..how clean can that be? People step on this thing & we're laying on it?) Gross. Anyhow, we're laying on this riser and raising the bar weight up and down and up and down. Good god. Then it got better! Oh yes it did. Grab the heavier of the sets of the hand weights and Right out, left out , both out ...holy crap! When did it become so hard to do this? Finally after a few more reps with the weights and push-ups and sit ups which I have to admit I swore my way through, it was over.
After *every* single class I've been to, I'm able to make my way upstairs and do at least a mile or two on the treadmill or the bike or the evil eliptical. Not today buddy boy. My legs were lucky to make it out of that studio and back to the locker room. Where....I encountered the lady herself. The teacher of the class. She recognized me as new and thanked me for coming. I thought about it and decided to ask her about the pain in my arch and what I was doing wrong. She watched me to a lunge and id my problem right away. Wow -- she was good. My feel weren't spread far enough apart and I wasn't really "lunging" I was more like bending over in half trying to kill myself.

Wow...does nobody ever teach us how to do lunges properly? Was I absent that day in PE? It takes a shitload of concentration to do a proper lunge. Straighten up, butt out, straight rod - and down and up. I damn near fell over! I really really need to work on my balance!

Well there was no going to do any more work that night. I packed up my stuff and left the gym. Walked a few paces only to stare down at the 2 flights of stairs down to the parking lot. Oh my god -- was I going to be able to leave this place? With every step I took, I think I said a new curse. The burn! The pain! The sheer terror of my legs giving out and me falling down the stairs! Finally finally I got to the bottom and I'm pretty sure I sort of shuffled my way to my car.

I'll leave my experience of having to use the potty for another post -- all I know is they really really need to make toilets a lot freakin higher!

Day 2 - oh crap.

Well...welcome to my personal journey. I don't quite know where to start other than I'm excited, scared and thrilled all at the same time. I don't know who will be reading this as time goes on but I feel compelled to list a cast of characters since I will be talking about people in this blog as time goes on.

• Clint - my husband
• Rob & Tori - my kids (10 and 5, respectively)
• MichaelAnn - my oldest friend in the whole wide world. We've known each other since 1st grade. So..thats well...27 years worth. She lives in Texas and is pure inspiration.
• Veronica - one of my bffs. Love her. She keeps me laughing, smiling and our kids are great friends.
• Bob & Sharleen - my parents
• John & Sherry - my inlaws

I think those are my main players that will be re-occuring.

A few things about me:

• I'm married with 2 kids. I'm a fairly young mom. 33 with an almost 10 year old and a 5yo. Got started early and we're done early. Pregnancy and I don't mix. We're done.
• I curse like a sailor. I'm trying to be better about it. Its not cool when your kid gets to the repeating age.
• I work FT outside the home. I love where I work. If I have to work (which I do), I'm glad I get to work in the office I do.
• I'm active in my sons' school with the PTA. I'm coming back as PTA VP with the expectation I will be President next year. I'm scared shitless.
• I'm sarcastic about 98% of the time. I can't help it. You ask dumb questions, I feel compelled to give you a dumb answer. Sorry - its in my blood. If I only had a dime for everytime my mother exclaims "you're just like your father". Chuckle...gets her going everytime.
• We bought a house 2 years ago that I now loathe. I want to move back to the City of Scotts Valley where there are sidewalks, nice parks and things are clean. I'm slowly but surely working on the husband to sell the house and move.
• I hate chain-link fences. Can't expain it, just do. I think they're ghetto.
• I love love love to cook and bake. My mother and aunts are amazing cooks and I hope and pray that one day they take the time to freakin write down their recipes because I cannot remember all of these things ladies!

Moving on. I live in Santa Cruz, California. I'm 33 years old and in the worst shape of my life. There, I said it. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. In HS, I got it under control by not eating well and playing sports. After graduation, the weight slowly came back on. With pregnancy and kids - things got worse. So here we are. My husband god bless him - decided one day that he wanted to lose weight. He starts eating bird seed type food and running. Man dropped like 60 pounds what seemed like effortlessly. Meanwhile, I'm still running around doing the work and mom and PTA thing. Coming home after late night meetings eating McD's while watching the Biggest Loser. Irony No?

About a 8 weeks ago, June 7th to be exact, I decided I was sick of not fitting into my clothes and watching my kids struggle with their weight. I joined Weight Watchers at my office and joined a gym. I love my gym. I don't love WW but it is working. 7 weeks in and I have lost 15 pounds. Its going well.

There is a 10K race in my town called the Wharf to Wharf. Its a big deal. People come from all over the world to run this thing. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking a local hasn't won it in oh...well a lot of years. Usually a dude from Kenya wins the thing. Clint (again, the husband) and my friend Veronica decided they wanted to run this thing this year. I supported them and was at the finish line. They did awesome.

Few days after the race, Veronica, MichaelAnn and I are on FB chatting on a thread. It gets mentioned that MichaelAnn should come out to California and do the race with us next year. We go around and around and MichaelAnn agrees to come out IF and ONLY IF I do the run with her. Wow....to say the least. I agreed. Instantly.

So somehow in the midst of late-night Facebook conversation, I wound up committing myself to run a 10k in 363 days & and I will get to see my long lost friend that I haven't seen since 2007.