Saturday, February 20, 2010

Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This

Like anyone who has ever made a new years resolution or set a seemingly impossible goal, I've kind of fallen off the horse. Don't get me wrong, I still (sometimes) go to the gym, eat (fairly) healthy and (sort of) keep the looming 5K in the back of my mind. If I'm going to be honest, I go to SERF only 1 or 2 times a week, I had Gorgonzola Gnocci for dinner, and my papers, exams and social life all take priority over the faraway August run. So sue me.

Don't write me off as a total failure, though! I DO have some excuses. First of all, I'm a student. A working student with an apartment that always needs cleaning and a pile of laundry that always needs washing and blah blah blah blah... I'm busy, OKAY? But that's not all, because I know that somehow people who are as busy as I am make it to the gym everyday. There are more excuses up my sleeve!

Whenever I go to the gym, something "comes up". For example, a couple weeks ago I was planning on taking the bus straight from work to the SERF, even though it was pretty late. It had been awhile since I'd talked to my best friend, Rachel, so I called her to talk on the way there. We talked for two hours. But what could I say? We rarely get the chance to have one of our amazing conversations that makes my abs hurt from all the laughing (see? I did work out a little) and I miss her a lot. I wasn't about to ditch her for a Stairmaster. I made it all the way to the locker room and changed into my workout clothes, though... and we kept talking. By the time we had finally exhausted every subject, I would have had 15 minutes to run, change again, shower and get out. Not worth it.

Another time, I rushed to the gym in between classes only to remember (too late!) that I had taken my t-shirt home to wash... I was wearing a dressier shirt that day and a sports bra would have looked ridiculous underneath. I didn't even want to try it, and I'm sure my fellow SERF goers would have thanked me. Consider that bullet dodged.

The next time I went, my sports bra broke. I had the kind with the zipper up the front and the zipper broke. I don't even know why I bought it, it looked so stupid. But not as stupid as it looks now. Let me explain. I've only had the bra for about two months, so I was completely against spending $10 on a new one. I'm too stubborn and frugal for my own good. So I took it home and sewed the front together. Yeah. I barely know how to sew, so it looks like a 3 year old did it. I have more experience with knitting, so I probably would have had better luck if I tried to knit myself a sports bra. The worst part, though, is that it doesn't even work now. That's the "something" that came up last time. There's no way I can possibly run without a bra that is so tight it's like duct-tape wrapped around my chest. So, there you go. My excuses. Impressed? There are quite a few, I know. As my boyfriend (and immediate family) like to say, I turn everything into an "ordeal".

Now that I'm done whining, I'll talk about the few times I've actually made it to the treadmill. I ran my first mile a few weeks ago (VERY exciting for me), but I haven't been able to do it again. I'll definitely keep trying, though. I've actually gotten my boyfriend to join me a few times, which always keeps me going. I'm more inclined to work out longer when he's with me because I hate the thought of him being able to do it longer than I can (no matter which type of machine we're on). I push myself further because I make it into a competition. We don't go home until he's complaining at me and I've confirmed that I've climbed more virtual stairs, biked further or ran longer. I'm definitely not going to tell him this, though (he doesn't read my blog), because once he knows it's a competition, I'll have no chance. He'd rather give himself a running-induced stress fracture than be outrun by me. His determination is one of the things I love about him, but also the reason I want to keep my little system on the DL.

In other news, I'm noticing how difficult it is to get back into it after a few days off, which makes it really frustrating when I just don't have the time or some other factor keeps me from going. I know everyone has setbacks, though. I'm no different. I just have to keep working at it. I just have to get back on the horse. As soon as I get a new bra.



(oh yeah, I'm not keeping track of my "points" on here, obviously, because I rarely get a chance to write. I'm keeping track in my day planner. Right now I'm at -2. Think that's bad? Last week it was -7).