17 days

Friends out there in the blogosphere, you may have picked up on the fact that I like to exercise. A lot. There are a lot of really good reasons for my addiction. First and foremost, as of September 30 after 2 long hard years of work, I got down to my goal weight. I lost 26 pounds! I had to literally work my you-know-what off to get there, but I feel so great now. Second, I have made some really fantastic friends through my life at the gym. The group fitness trainers are a pretty close knit group and they are a great support system, too. I honestly look forward to seeing a good majority of them. Third, all of this hard work has enabled me to take on things I never thought I'd be able to do, like RUNNING. More on that later...

At this point, you might be thinking, "Okay, I get that you like exercise, but what does that have to do with 17 days?" Well, Fall Break is happening in the QC until October 16, so I had the ability to change my work schedule to accomodate a whole lot of trips to the gym. From October 4 through October 20, I will be at the gym EVERY DAY. As if that's not enough, over this 17 day period I'll be teaching 6 days a week and attending classes/practicing BODYCOMBAT on my non-teaching day. Day 1 was last Sunday.

Now for an aside and some background - I decided a few months ago after my first class started that I would like to run in Pat's Run. It's a 4.2 mile run around Tempe finishing at Sun Devil Stadium at ASU. This race happens every April on/near Pat Tillman's birthday. Considering the fact that the last time I tried to run for exercise I got to the end of my street and felt like collapsing in a panting heap of running hopelessness, I figured a 4.2 mile run is pretty amibitious.

Back to the main story....

Tuesday morning I taught in the wee sma's and felt pretty good except for soreness in my hamstrings (weird). I had to work a little late Tuesday night for the second day in a row (blech), so when I got home I thought "All right Sandi. Pat's Run is only 6 months away. You have no idea how much work it could take to train for a run, so let's start now." Besides, after 2 late nights in a row I had some steam to blow off. I put on some workout clothes and my running shoes, and off I went. I pulled what I like to call the "Forrest Gump" in that each time I got to a point I didn't think I would be able to reach, I decided to just keep running. Aside from a run in with a yipping Yorkie that scratched my left ankle (it's better now, thank you), I managed to keep a good pace going the whole time and ran 3 miles! I practically floated on air when I made it back to my house. Good times.

The worst day of this experience so far has been Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I taught, and then I had to turn around and teach again just over 12 hours later on Thursday morning. I was LIMPING around work on Thursday. Every muscle from my chin down hurt. I tried taking a hot bubble bath and a lot of pain relieving OTC meds, but nothing really helped. Thankfully, I felt a lot better on Friday. I taught again Friday afternoon (great way to end a long week), and then I was dead to the world asleep a little after 8 pm yesterday. I know, if the AARP finds out about my early night, I may be granted early membership to the group. Yikes!

I'm only 7 days into this, but I feel pretty hopeful that it will be an adventure and a great experience to see just how much my body can take. Proof that I'm a glutton for punishment - I woke up early (not hard to do considering my bed time last night) and went to RPM, the spin class, this morning. I have BODYCOMBAT practice in an hour and a half, too. Oh yeah, and day 1 of 6 (round 2 ding ding!) for teaching starts tomorrow.

I hope that all of you out there reading realize 1) yes I am a little bit crazy, but 2) you can change your life if you push yourself to see how far you can go. Twenty-six pounds seemed impossible to lose when I started 2 years ago, but it came off just like it went on. One little pound at a time...