The power of one word

I am still going to Boot Camp each week.  The first session finished just before Christmas and this session began on January 3.  I was pretty happy with my results the first time, but I really want to do better.

You see, I GAINED WEIGHT!  No amount of fat loss and muscle gain can make me happy with suffering through boot camp just to have gotten heavier at the end.  I know that my weight is just one measure of success, but I really want to succeed at that measure.

This time through I am doing a better job of watching what I eat and exercising more on the days I'm not at boot camp.  I have started doing the 5K101 podcast again and that should take me from where I am to running a 5K race.

Did I just write 'running a 5K race'?  That just sounds ridiculous for me.  I have been a fairly active person in my life, but never an athletic one.  I have never competed in sports of any kind.  And I have hated to run.  There is something about getting hot and sweaty that really gets on my nerves.  And, besides, running bores me.

I am persevering, though.  On Saturday morning, I dove headfirst right out of Week 7 of the podcast into Week 8.  Week 8 is the final week of training and has a 5 minute brisk walk for a warm-up, then a 30 minute jog, followed by another 5 minute walk.  Before I started exercising I could barely jog for 2 minutes.  That's how bad I was.  This morning, though, I didn't see any reason not to go the distance and jog for 30 minutes.

The jog on the treadmill began just fine.  I felt strong enough to make it at a slow pace, but by 10 minutes in I was getting tired of the whole thing.

Then the power went out.  And the treadmill came to a stop.

A month ago I would probably have taken this as a sign to stop.  After all, this is really too hard for me.  Tomorrow might be a better day to run.  Fiddle-dee-dee - I'll think about it in the morning. (Name that movie.) But, my word for the year is "Do".  My word isn't "Rest", "Relax", or "Easy".

I let the treadmill come to a complete stop before I jumped off -- and I started running in place.  My Ipod was continuing to play on a battery operated speaker and I just kept running.

The electricity blinked a time or two, but after about a minute it came back on to stay.  I got back on the treadmill and finished the 30 minutes of jogging.  I realize how small a thing that is to many people, but for me it is a huge victory.  I started a hard thing, was challenged to quit before I finished, and then stuck it out.

Now, if I don't lose some weight by the end of this boot camp, I may change my word.  But, I might not be able to tell you what it is.