Conjuring the Exercise Mojo

Exercise can do so many good things for you. The wonderful thing that happens on the scale aside, when I get finished working out I feel:

• Victorious.
• Sweaty, a visual sign of my hard work.
• That wonderful warm-from-the-inside-out feeling in my muscles.
• Totally relaxed mentally and physically.
• Giddy and giggly, even more so that usual.

Today, along with all of the above, I felt like a rock star. One of my dreams at the beginning of my journey was one day to be able to run.  I had dreams of freedom and speed but really never believed that it would actually happen for me, not then when even walking was hard.  The day in the gym when my feet actually left the ground for the first time, Jeff stood back and said, like the parent of a newly walking toddler, "Minter, you're running!"

Since then, I've broken out into a run here and there...painful, short bursts that took everything I had.  It's gotten easier over time and that dream of mine to run a race gets closer and closer. During today's workout, Jeff and Marisa divided us up into two groups of three for a relay competition.  Millie, Mary, and I were on a team going up against Jeff M., Florence, and Lakshmi.  Two people had to hold a plank position while one person held two twenty-five pound weights and hustled down the length of the gym (speed walking) and back, then the next person would do it, while the walker went down to plank. We rotated through this relay for five minutes to see how many laps we could do.

The next round we got to ditch the weights, but this time you had to run full out while the other two held the static squat position.  Mary and Millie are runners for sure, but I was concerned that I would mess up our competitive edge.  Somehow though, like anything else I've done in the gym, suddenly one day you just start doing it, like you've conjured up your own personal brand of exercise magic. 

I was first up to run and when they yelled "go!" I took off and some how the magic happened.  Endurance was there, my breathing was right, I was pumping my arms, everyone was cheering...it was awesome. I ran back to my position, got down into my squat as Mary took off, then she was back and Millie was off like a shot.  In no time it was my turn again and there I went. Five minutes doesn't sound like a long time, but believe me...it slows to a snail's pace when you're doing this kind of stuff. At the end of the circuit, I was breathing hard, drenched, but feeling like a rock star.

We went on to do a tough core workout, and then cheered each other on in a rowing machine row-off. At the end we were all feeling like we could pass out, but also feeling all those wonderful side effects I listed above.  I may not have "moves like Jagger" like Adam Levine, but today I felt like a rock star.