August Begins

3.83 means just under 50 minutes for a 5K. The dog days heat is wilting but I am learning to look forward to the endorphin release to boost my spirits! That, and the fact that I toughed out one more hour towards good health and inner thoughts. A good way to start the month!

Hot Thoughts

Just finished an afternoon workout and won't be doing this again soon. I needed to get into the studio early today because I was meeting girlfriends for lunch at Fellini's (big yum!) and wanted to get some painting done beforehand. Record average time of 3.91 but I am spent. And sweaty gross. The A/C cuts off with the energy saver and I can feel the heart rate is probably just a bit too high for this old gal. Still I was pretty happy with the 3.96 I averaged for the first 20 minutes.

Seven Weeks Steady

w00t! Only seven weeks later and I have moved from 3.3 mph average to 3.8. May not sound like much to those of you who actually do exercise, but it is huge for someone like me who does not find joy in the repitition on running. (ha! and I use that work very lightly indeed!!) Give me the old Jackie Sorenson Dance Aerobics classes any day and I will exercise until I drop as long as the 'scenery' doesn't become rote and boring.
My Wii 'personal trainer did not realize I was ruining my wrist and I continued to do push ups and planks until the doctor had to remove me from any more weight bearing exercises, so I was ultimately forced back to the dreaded treadmill where even the most creative of us cannot cheat by letting up. So effective, yet again sooo boring. Necessity being my source, I am letting my ADD work to my advantage, and with the help of a book, 3 lb. hand weights, the treadmill timer and iTunes playing very loud (Black Eyed Peas are THE best to exercise to) I found I can change things up during each five minute interval. Even if I do end up breaking that in to 3+2 minute intervals!
Since the heat is in crazy 3-digit numbers right now and I am working more with weights and speed, I am not getting much reading done. However, I have found the last few nights I have gone to bed thinking how nice it will be to wake up and get on the treadmill. Quantum leaps for this exercise impaired old gal!!

...Don't Let the Title Trick You.

Okay. Let me be clear. I am not a runner. I am certainly not an exercise addict, and if the truth be told, I not only don't particularly like exercise, but I am also a bit offended how red-faced and sweaty I get when doing a leisurely 5K workout. However, after packing my out-of-shape self into the car one day, I had a light-bulb moment while waiting for the light to change on Great Neck Road. Five absolutely gorgeous 30-somethings were pausing at the crosswalk, pausing from a grueling run, hands on knees, red-faced, glistening bodies, laughing at one another and looking exactly like they were the stars in a commercial for Nikes, or Monster energy, or I don't know, that Belgian ice cream on a stick. Barely able to breathe in my jeans, I think, Wow...I wish I was them. The girl them, not the guy them. The time has come for me to commit to a life change and it won't be anytime in the near future that *I* will be running further than from the pool to the house to refill my martini. Or wine. Or whatever it is that is my most favorite adult beverage this week.

me: I have never seen a fat runner. I am going to start using the treadmill.

Steve: You never see a fat runner because they are too fat to run.

me: Good point. I will walk on the treadmill. for one hour. everyday.

That was two weeks ago and I have found that one can do a lot of thinking when I have dedicated a full sixty minutes where nothing else--the phone, the dinner, the laundry, the dogs, the family, the computer, the Facebook friends--will interrupt me.

I have found the treadmill the perfect place to sing, to read, the ponder, to solve and resolve, and when needed, to even cry. Sorta like therapy with the added benefit that I will soon be back in my skinny jeans.