Perserverance

Long time, no post. I keep trying to post something and then I hate what I write, therefore, no posts. Maybe this time I will actually do it.

During the last week I have actually exercised every single day. This is a real breakthrough for me. I always have great intentions to exercise regularly but then something happens- I sleep in, life gets busy, I hurt myself , I loose my motivation, ad nauseum.

I have been regretting that I have not really followed through any of my goals that I stated in My First Siwon Post (you can see the goals at the very end of that post from September). So I decided to at least work on the exercise goal. I have learned from the last couple of months that having a routine really helps me to get stuff done. The one day I slept-in and exercised in the afternoon I regretted it. Now I get up, make my bed, get dressed, and then exercise. No breakfast. No checking emails. No cleaning. That's it. It is working. I have exercised eight days in a row.

Of course nothing can go off without a hitch. On Saturday I attempted to do the 5k workout on my treadmill. Half a mile into the program, I needed to go to the bathroom. I paused the program to do my business. When I got back to the machine there were less than 30 seconds left before it would reset itself. In my hurry to get started I knocked the emergency shutoff and reset the blasted thing. Since I was feeling kind of lazy, I decided to different program. A program that I had not done for months. Big mistake.

I chose level 4 which has a max speed of 5mph and 3.5 incline. Off I went, feeling rather smug for my great idea. As I walked and jogged I thought, "Man, I'm really getting into shape! Look at me go!" But the jogging quickly turned into running and the running did not end. Sweat was dripping into my eyes. I was gasping for each breath. Then I noticed a pain in my hip.

I have been very over weight for 20+ years. I have given birth to four children. I now have what I call an apron of  flab. It is gross. It is disgusting. I hope that with exercise it will go away, but right now it seems to be threatening to become a permanent fixture of my body. I really, really hate it.

Anyway, as I was running and sweating and gasping I realized that stupid apron of flab was flopping around with great force. Before I knew it, I pulled something in my hip because of that thing. I slowed everything downed and "finished " the program hobbling about like some old crone. Crap!

All day Saturday it hurt to walk. Sunday morning I did some yoga, hoping that all the slow, gentle stretching would help. I felt better, but not much.

This morning I was back to my regular routine until I had to run. As my flab apron started to bounce and my hip started to throb, I felt a wave of desperation hit. Was I going to have to give up exercising so my stupid hip could heal from whatever it was my stupid flab apron had done to it? Then remembered some pictures that Donghae and Leeteuk put on Twitter of their injuries while preparing for the concert season-

Those are Donghae's legs after he strained muscles in his calves during the intense practices For Super Show 3 and SMTown 2010. There was never any question that he would keep on practicing. He is so dedicated to always doing his best in every performance.

I know, it's gross! That's the blister Leeteuk got while preparing for the same concerts as above. I got a blister on my heel this summer. It was actually a blister on a blister. I didn't exercise for a month. Leetuek didn't let that little blister slow him down a bit. He performed in at least three concerts while keeping up  his other responsibilities.

Now I realize these are not really bad injuries. But they are very uncomfortable. Donghae and Leeteuk press on. I go to bed. Well not this time. As my hip erupted into flames of pain I gained strength from their examples. I changed the program, walked at a quick pace, and was able to go for over a mile today. Success!