Monday, March 28, 2011

Gettin' back in the game

I'm back. No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth. I was sick a couple weeks ago with a bad cold and all last week I was on a cruise. While I had my cold, I wasn't able to run and I hated it. I knew it was better for me not to so I could heal faster but it was not easy. I started feeling antsy toward the end of each day and my body knew something was missing. On my cruise, however, I was able to workout some. There were a couple days when the ship was too rocky and I could barely walk without falling over let alone run, so I took a break those days. On the days I was able to workout, I did fairly well. I tried the treadmill which was different and, to me, a lot easier than running on the street. My second day on the treadmill I was able to run a full mile without stopping! It felt really good, so when I got back into my normal routine today, I tried testing my theory. Sure enough, I still only made it a little more than a half mile before I had to stop. I then continued on for another 1.5 miles running/walking. Although I did not make my full mile goal by the end of this month, I am still improving, which is important. 


The gym on the ship was nice and made me even more excited to buy a gym membership with my tax return. Since I have been exercising more, I have also been reading up on some tips so I make sure I am doing things right. One article I read said that it's not good just to have cardio in my workout and I need to build muscle to support my activity as well. It makes sense to me- if I want to run more and get stronger, I need the muscle to do so. I had put off buying a membership for some time because of the following:


1. I wanted to make sure I stuck with exercising before blowing a bunch of money on a membership I wouldn't use. 
2. I didn't want another monthly payment. 


Well I solved both of those problems since I know I have stuck with it for 2 months and do not plan on giving up and through Costco you can buy a 24 Hour Fitness membership for two years for $300. $300 is a fantastic deal and since I will be paying it up front, it will eliminate the need for monthly payments. I will be going to Costco with my friend this week since she has a membership and check this deal out. 


I said I would talk about the friendly encounters I have when I run. Today is a good day to mention one. There is a lady I pass a lot who lives on the other side of me and she walks her shaggy, black and gray dog everyday. She says hi a lot and makes little comments to me every once in a while. Today she told me that every day she sees me run, it inspires her. She had made a comment like this before to me, which is extraordinarily touching, but today I stopped and talked to her and her adorable dog. Her dog's name is Coco- Coco Chanel that is. Coco is a very loving dog and made sure to give me plenty of kisses because she loves me so much. Or maybe she was just trying to clean my sweat off me? Either way though, I love that dog and her owner (whose name I do not know yet), is very kind. 


Spring is here and the weather was beautiful today and I hope it continues to be like this. It feels so good to run with the sun on you and it not be crazy hot. Although I wasn't able to do a full mile worth of running today, I still feel really good about it overall. I will be doing a quick run tomorrow (probably only a mile) because I am going to see a friend of mine. Then Wednesday, I hope to be doing my 3 miles again. Since I start school next week, I will have to figure out a good running schedule. It will be a little more difficult since I have school 3 days this quarter rather than 2 days. Nothing I can't handle though ;)

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