First exercise!!

.... and it sucked! Haha. I am so glad that I have finally found the motivation to get out there and at least do some for of exercise. I want to be in shape. I want to feel better about my body. I want to walk around campus without getting so out of breath. And so the only thing that will be able to to help that is getting on an exercise routine. I would much rather head to the gym and either swim or cycle or something - but I just simply cannot afford a gym pass right now - so I'm going to make do with what I have -- The ground to run/walk on and the shoes I have to put on.

The first one wasn't at all easy. At first it wasn't bad, but then I started running - that was terrible. Let me start from the beginning ;-)

Spencer decided that he'd come walk with me - YAY! We rigged up a camelback to hold a small oxygen tank so that he wouldn't have to worry about dragging along his tank. We hooked up the sat checker to it so that he could make sure he wasn't desating. It worked so well! He made the comment about how he felt a new sense of freedom that he hasn't had before while on oxygen. It made me smile and I am SO proud of him for coming with me.

So we set out and did 2 laps around the church. Not a long way - but it was a start for Spencer and he did great :) He had to be on 8 liters for exercise - but if we do this every single day his needs will go down as his lungs get stronger. He has a doc appt on Wednesday. I REALLY hope he doesn't go in the hospital -but we'll see. I guess I can share my thoughts on this subject later.

Anyway... back to my story..

So after he did 2 laps around the church, I was determined to do more. I popped my headphones in my ears and cranked the music up. I started to run. I remembered what I learned from exercise physiology, and tried to control my breathing and just take my mind off of what I was doing. That help for the first........ minute.

Ahh it started to hurt so good. You know that feeling of working out - the soreness in your muscles that you get. That set in at about 2 minutes and at first I hated it, but then it reminded me of when I was in high school doing sports - how good I felt after I was in shape. I almost miss that feeling of waking up in the morning and being so sore I can't walk... ALMOST ;-)

I really wanted to quit, but I made myself run 3/4 of the way around the block!!! It took me 4 minutes and about 50 seconds. Yikes! But it will get better. Tomorrow my goal is for it to take 4 minutes and 45 seconds ;-) Just slowly knock off the time... it'll be hard but I know I can do it!!!! Once it got to the uphill part, I decided to walk - but walk at a quick, steady pace. It was hard! And

my.

calves.

BURNED! That hill is pretty steep - but I'm proud of myself. A song came on my iPod and so I told myself that I would keep up with the pace of the song - it was a pretty quick one! After I got to the top of the hill I finished off my little outing by slowing my pace and walking the rest of the way home slowly. Man I was tired!

My chest hurt, I couldn't breathe, my legs were killing me, I was super thirsty, I was hotter than ever, and my heart was just racing! But I DID IT! :)

I don't know that I can honestly say I'm looking forward to it again tomorrow - but I am determined to give it my best and get into shape. My motivation - the wedding. I want to be confident and comfortable in my dress. And I just want to be in shape in general.!!!

So there is my first exercise of the year! Lets hope tomorrow goes just as well, if not better (better would be preferred, today was hard!!!! haha)