19.7.09

Why now?

I'm not an athlete. I never have been. That's OK. The first time I ever joined a gym was a couple years ago in Iowa. It was close to work and the people there were nice. I found a class called Cardio Interval on Monday evenings, where we did three minutes of one thing and three minutes of another for about an hour. What I liked more than anything was that I couldn't let my mind wander in class - I had to focus on what I was doing. Sometimes I need to be forced to be focused. We joined a gym when we moved to Eugene, but it's more mindless exercise. I felt like I was maintaining (barely), but that was it. Josh found out about Crossfit through his friends in Iowa. After trying a session there, he checked out the Crossfit in Eugene. He convinced me to come with him and try it for a month. July is a slow month for me, and I definitely needed something new in my life, so my first crossfit workout was July 13. The first workout made for a great story for my friends and co-workers. We held sandbags over our heads, which was awful, and in the actual workout we flipped tires. This I could get into. I didn't feel very strong that day, but I felt like I could be. I felt like I could commit. So I did. I ended up going 4 times that week - 2 regular workouts and 2 fundamentals classes. I felt comfortable in the fundamentals and scared in the regular. But that's OK, because I'm rarely scared in my real life. I can do this. At the end of the week, I learned about paleo. If I could stick with it for a month and clean out my system, I'd be in a better place to continue this process. A month time frame is perfect, since our trip to Europe was in exactly one month. If I just commit, it can work. I just need to commit. I've never been overweight, but I haven't been at the weight I think I should be in over 10 years. There was a time in 2001 where I was 125 pounds, but I didn't get there the way I should have, and that was a really difficult time in my life. Like we say at work, I can do better. I can get to where I need to be. The picture on the left was taken in May when my friend and I took off down the highway in search of waterfalls. We found snow. I'm not overweight; I'm just not where I should be. My jeans don't feel right. I don't like how I look in pictures. But if I just commit, I can do it.

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