Day 7 - January 19, 2010

Today is day 7...I am still walking slowly, but am starting to feel a little better, not quite so stiff when I get up. I decided to get a jump start on my lunch today instead of waiting until the last minute to grab stuff aimlessly from the fridge and pantry. I decided that I was going to have soup and broccoli for lunch, and some kind of fruit. Good. There wasn't any coffee made so I took a thermos with sugar and 2% milk in it to work and will get some coffee there instead of making a pot. I even had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast. I think this whole idea of planning ahead is working out ok for me today...

On Tuesday I was supposed to e-mail my exercise and work out logs to the nutritionist for review but I forgot until today. I have a variety of papers in my purse with food written on them so I can sit down and enter them in the computer, but I just can't find the time. Poor excuse, but it's all I have. I know that I have been skipping meals, especially when I get home late from a work out, so maybe that is why I'm dragging my feet. I still have the "I'm going to be in trouble feeling", for some reason. Self sabotage maybe?

I get to the gym tonight hoping that I don't have to do the lunges, squats, or dog things to start off with. I'm in luck!! Today Ron has our group go up to the main gym, from the man gym, because he has something "special" planned. Then he smiles this wicked, evil, smile that is very unnerving. If I had to hazard a guess, I'll bet  this isn't going to be special at all. So there is a new person with us today, a lovely woman in about as bad a shape as the rest of us, and she asked if she could work out with us because she heard Ron had something "special" for us. We welcomed her aboard like the Titanic passengers we are and off we went. Through the lobby, the basketball courts, the long winding hallway, right to the stairwell leading to the basement. Well, we all looked at one another, and one of the mentors said "here we are" and she pointed to the stairwell door. I though, oh good, we are going to the indoor track upstairs...up the stairs...up there...above where we were standing....Nope...not even close! Ms. Mentor said, "Ron wants us to start running the stairs, to the basement first and all four floors, up and down, until he gets here. Oh crap! So in a line we went down to the basement, and I was hurting so bad in my legs, I could barely make it. But I was ready for anything at this point.

Off we went,, 12 steps up then the landing, four stories up, and four down we went. Up and down, and then again, and again and on the fourth trip up I heard Ron's voice. Hurray! So I was at the top and with my legs shaking I wobbled down the stairs and when I saw Ron, I said "And that makes 100, phew...What's next?"  I asked thinking I was delightfully clever. Ron just smiled (evil) and said that now he wanted us to go back down to the basement and this time when we got to the landings, we were to do 10 squats on each floor. Pardon? I looked around to see if there was a fresh group standing behind us...there wasn't, we were it and the new lady swooned. I haven't seen anyone actually swoon, but she did it. We trudged back to the basement and off we went. UP 12 steps, 10 squats, 12 steps, 10 squats.....and then I hear a wee little voice, "Please help me baby Jesus", oh Lord, was I swooning and hearing angels? Not exactly. Our visitor was a woman of color, and she was praying with every step she took, "Oh, lord, carry me up these stairs, Oh Baby Jesus, Help me up these stairs", and she was praising the Lord as she struggled up and down those stairs. I felt it must have helped all of us because very soon, we were done! Done with the wretched stairs...I couldn't walk one more stair...Nope, Ron smiled (evil) and said, that now he wanted us to do high leg lifts on each landing as we went up and down those stairs. I didn't bother looking around. We sounded like we were sucking every molecule of air out of the room collectively. Did he mean us? We trudged down to the basement and again, being serenaded by the prayers to Baby Jesus, and I'm not kidding, I added prayers to his poppa and momma too, we ran, walked, dragged ourselves up and down those stairs, until finally we were done. Ron looked very pleased with himself, and you know what, none of us quit, we were slow and shaking but we finished. Ron led us off to the cardio room where he put us on treadmills, with a 3% incline, at 3 mph, and we got started. About ten minutes into the walk, he brought over 5 lb weights for us, and said to get off the treadmill, leave the belt running and for 1 minute we were to do squats, then jump back on the treadmill for 2 minutes, then cycle again, continuing for the last 20 minutes. Compaired to the stairs, this wasn't so bad, and it seems like the 20 minutes really flew by. I got finished and Ron, smiling (though not so evil),  told me I did a real good job. I was absolutely soaking wet, but I finished standing up, and that was a great acomplishment. 

I can't speak for the others, but I thank that wonderful lady for calling in the recruits just at the right time. Her praying out loud was just what I needed to get me out of my head. I stopped thinking about how much pain I was in, and focused on one step at a time. As far as I am concerned, she is welcome to come along anytime and she can bring her friends.

Tomorrow is weigh in.."Please help me Baby Jesus"!

Kelly