Day 5, Week 10: Just get started.

Got that easy 3 mile but kind of cold run in this morning with the large dog. 

Apparently I forgot you need to stay still for
pictures to turn out correctly.

As we were running this morning in the coldness and the darkness of 4:30 AMness, a car slowed down and drove next to us for a few seconds.  As I watched the driver's side window roll down, all I heard was, "WHAT THE *badword* THINK YOU'RE DOING IT'S *samebadword* COLD OUT HERE." 

To which I replied, "If you were out here running you'd be warm.  Bye." 

If you think that's bad, know that this exchange was way better than one I had a few winters ago, where one of my neighbors screamed "YOU'RE *badderword* NUTS LADY!" from his porch as he watched me run on a thick layer of ice on the road in my YaxTrax. 

Anyway, I don't want to talk about the rude things that have been yelled at me while I'm trying to get my run on.  I want to talk about what I was pondering this morning as I tried not to focus on my freezing fingers--how I even got started with this whole "fitness" thing in the first place and how it led me to being dragged around by a dog at 4:30 AM.  Let's rewind a bit

I've mentioned before how I used to contain much more bodily volume but started working out and eating better to shed some of that volume.  I have also mentioned I started working out to one of the original Tae Bo workout DVDs--this one, in fact.

I don't even remember where I got this DVD.  All I know is that I did it every single day for the better part of a few years.  But I didn't start out just rocking out this entire workout from start to finish.  I knew that after an entire life of pretty much not exercising, I would have to ease into fitness slowly.  More importantly, I also knew I would have to make time in my day to do this.

I was teaching high school at the time, so my day was filled with getting up early, getting to school to work before the students arrived, and staying late to set up for the next day of learning goodness.  What I had to do was figure out where in that day I could fit in 15 minutes of exercise, because I had to decided that no matter what my day looked like, I could find a way to fit in 15 minutes of that Tae Bo tape.  I decided to start working out in the mornings before work, getting up 15 minutes earlier than I normally did.  "I can handle 15 minutes," I thought.  "Just 15 less minutes of sleep to help my health.  It's worth it."

I did my first 15 minutes of Tae Bo on a Saturday morning, and Sunday morning I woke up feeling as if I had been beaten with a stick on every inch of my body (that's how out of shape I was).  But I dragged my body right out of bed and did 15 more minutes.  And so on for the next week or so, until I felt ready to add on 5 more minutes of the workout.  I kept on adding 5 minutes more every one or two weeks until I was finally doing the whole workout and putting noticeable cracks in his sanity by making him listen to it while he slept every morning for a few years. (He was overjoyed the day I switched to P90X, let me tell you.)

So here's my advice for those of you who know they should be working out but don't know how/when/where to start:  Just get started.  Pick something, anything, and just start, even if it's 5 minutes a day.  Good habits develop just like bad habits--good habits grow and expand and take over your life and pretty soon you're ditching your husband to go run 20 milers in the rain and sneakily signing up for marathons all over the country and hoping he doesn't notice all that new gear you've bought because your body has been completely redefined and you NEED that new gear to fit your new awesome body.  These good habits also benefit those around you by giving them the needed "me time" they have always wanted since you're always running off and running somwhere...for example, a husband you may be married to.  So it's obvious that developing the positive habit of working out is a win/win for all involved.

In all seriousness, just get started.  Start small and your workout habit will snowball as you get addicted to the goodness of it all.  And then, inevitably, that goodness will ooze over into goofy pictures of yourself that you share with everyone on the internets.

Working out!  Yay!

It also leads to dark cold 4:30 AM runs attached to a dog.  You've been warned.

Workout learnings:

• It all starts with the decision to make room for fitness in your life.  After that, it's a matter of fitting it in using the time you have.
• If I thought it was cold this morning (30s), it's going to be 18 degrees when I do my run tomorrow morning.  There will be much mental whining in the morning.
• I pretty much only do Cathe workouts these days...and the hubbs has them all memorized.
• Working out doesn't always lead you to wear plaid pants with black riding boots...but it's possible.

Tomorrow's workout:  A cold and sullen 10 mile tempo run.  And it will be too cold for large dog to go with.  Total BUH.