February 5, 2010
Good news: I’m alive. Yay! Half-bad news: I wouldn't haven't had any flowers at my service. It's cool, I didn't really want flowers, anyway. Real bad news: I accidentally skipped part of the killer workout.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking – Accidentally, huh? Suuuuure. It’s true, though, I swear! The video I watched was already like, 45 minutes long! I thought surely, that was enough to endure for one morning. I didn’t figure out until later, while rehashing my morning in embarrassing detail to my new life coach, that I was supposed to have watched (and followed) two videos this morning. Whoops!! (Normally, I would feel bad about this under, well, honestly, no circumstances).
I suppose this means it’s tacked onto some other excruciating routine, now. Today’s was cardio. You think cardio, you think, Ooh! A nice break! I can do that! Yeah, no. Maybe it was just me that thought that… I put the DVD in and Chalean announced it was Cardio Day, and the relief that spread through me was indescribable. It was just a joke! I thought. Score! Yeah, score for team Lean Machine. That crap was hard! Yesterday my legs shook. Today, my arms nearly fell right off. Although, to be fair, my legs were already sore from the last two days, so I can’t really tell whether they hurt from today or not.
I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and see what else I can’t move. Anyone wanna place bets? I’ve got $3 on my triceps. And biceps.
I am enjoying your "death diary" Megan. I am with you about pain. It is only for the mentally unbalanced to inflict it on oneself. Good food is meant to be eaten by good people. I am a good people. End of argument.
ReplyDeleteI swim every morning at 6:30 in our nearby community pool. I try to get a mile into 30min. It does not squeeze. It takes closer to 40min. Accepting the reality I will never compress it I have tried doing all the strokes. A friend (?) challenged me to do the butterfly last week. Once I did a legal length I thought I was ready for Hades I had just crossed the river Styx. I worked on the body undulating action this week and challenged him to do a 200. I did it only to learn he never made it to 50. The quads and the shoulders told me I had just crossed the English Channel in bad weather so I went back to freestyle and backstroke the next morning. I am 6'2" and 200lbs. I have been since high school but over the years the packaging has evolved. When I had my heart attack in Jan 1999 I was not swimming and had climbed to 214lbs. After the angioplasty I had dropped to 190. I started cardio-rehab and got back to 200. Then the cancer struck in 2003 and I lost a lot of blood during the op. I was down to 183 with no appetite and very dizzy. Weak as I was I went back to rehab and made it back until the hip replacement in 2005. Now I was afraid to rehab so I started swimming again. And the rest is history. My heart is better than 1999 and the cancer is dormant. I can play golf, baseball, or run (I never do it unless someone (a Dog?) is chasing me). Swimming keeps the body limber and the weight off. I do eat fish because I like it but I also enjoy lean hamburger, pot roast, a broccoli casserole -- if I could find one.
The worst is behind you, Megan. You will enjoy talking to that image in the mirror instead of slinking by. More importantly you will feel more energy, especially, mentally.
As far as Laura goes, my hat is off to her it takes a special "loving" sister to be firm with the baby syeps while having the big picture always in view.
Kathy and Maureen ran the full marathon last fall in York, PA and plan to do more. It was gory. The tales from preparation made waterboarding sound like fun. They kept challenging one another as you and Laura will do. One day you may decide to run around Lake Tahoe and then swim it.
Best,
Uncle John, the Ancient of Days