Hooray!  I think…..

Previously, we had a boot camp class at my office after work.  We worked out downstairs in the courtyard.  I loved the convenience; especially on days I had to go back to work after the workout.

It enabled me to take a break and still get work done.  A little over a year ago, we lost our trainer.    When he left, we had trouble finding someone who would come to our location.  We couldn’t to keep enough people interested to make it worth their while.  Interest fizzled.

But a few weeks ago, we got word that a new coach had been found for boot camp.  After a flash of excitement, I immediately remembered how long it had been since I did a real workout, with a coach pushing me to my limits.

Class began on Thursday night with six people, which was promising for a first class.  I soon realized how unprepared I was for the workout.  We began with jumping jacks for 1 minute.  I thought, “this isn’t too bad”, but as we transitioned to kicking our feet front to back and hands moving side to side I faltered.  Coordination has never been my strong point.  I tried not to fall on my face, as I did some semblance of throwing feed to chickens while stomping out a tap dance with my feet!  We immediately moved on to squats which weren’t too bad, but as we transitioned to mountain climbers, I had forgotten how much fun they could be.  I mean a plank is a ton of fun by itself, but throwing in some quick movements, pulling alternating knees forward, sort of like laying down while running, well that’s just peachy.

My abs were on fire, which I guess means I was doing something right!  Knowing I had really accomplished something close to a miracle, I sucked down a gallon of water in anticipation of more fun.

At least every time we finished a set, I knew we were hacking minutes off the hour.

Back to my mat, I arrived in time for Coach Travis to call out, “It’s time for groiners and then we’ll add groiners with a twist.”  Oh my!  I didn’t want to know what this was going to be.

Surviving groiners, straight leg marches and follow the leader, I was huffing and puffing.  Travis was our leader and we ran through obstacles, around the building and up three flights of stairs where we finally got to stop and stretch.  That was great until Travis said, “Move to the rail and put your foot on the top rail.”  Right!  My foot found its way close to top, hovering   dangerously on the third rail while I tried to keep from falling over.

After some wonderful (yes that’s sarcasm you hear) stretching, Travis instructed us to hurry back down to grab some water.  “The faster you get down the more time you have to drink your water,” floated after us as we trooped “quickly” away.

I sipped water and trudged back toward my mat to collapse, relieved that hour would soon be over, as Travis shouted “Warmup is over!  Let’s get started on the workout.”

What???

Friday, I woke, proud that I wasn’t too sore.  At least I wasn’t sore until I sat up in bed and my abs complained.  Then walking up the stairs, my calves reminded me they were a little bit sore as well.  As the day wore on, I found lots more spots that reminded me I had worked out.

Tuesday evening, found me back at boot camp with nine other hopefuls. Ready to accomplish miracles with my poor tired muscles I prepared to start.  Encouraged that I talked myself into coming back, I gamely tackled new exercises, got eliminated in the second round of the fitness challenge, but  still felt successful.  Ron and I totally represented in the medicine ball toss and finished more reps than anyone else.  Baby steps, small victories.  There’s always Thursday night!