Boot Camp

In October I joined an exercise boot camp. Actually my girls joined and then wanted me to go with them. I took the food program to my Dr. and she called the instructor and discussed who-knows-what, made a few modifications and then said, "Go for it!"

WHAT?! I was sure she would say absolutely not. The food program was kind of weird... you eat the exact same foods every day for 7 days and then change. I'm pre-diabetic, I have an aneurysm in my head, I've basically destroyed my knees and my feet, my back hurts all the time... I'm in no condition to do a boot camp, but she said, "go for it". So I did.

It was amazing. By the end of the second day I couldn't sit down or stand up. Going to the ladies room was torture! By the end of the week I knew I was going to die... Everything hurt... everything. Denice told me to write a letter about exactly how I felt then, if I ever considered stopping I could read the letter and convince myself to keep going because I never wanted to start over again. I never wanted to hurt this bad again.

October came and went and I was doing push ups on a bench. Not great ones, but my form was good and even though I was just moving an inch or two, I was moving. It turned cold so we moved inside and for the first time there were no benches or curbs available and Chris said, "Everyone on the ground." I just laughed. I couldn't get on the ground. I hadn't been on the ground in years. And even if I somehow managed to get on the ground there was no possible way I could get off the ground. And then it sank in and I was shocked embarrassed and stunned - I really didn't know how to get on the ground. I stayed on my feet and pushed against the wall and that day I went home and learned how to get on the ground again.

My knees are horrible, especially my left one and the pain when I kneel on them is excruciating so all my kneeling for years has been on a couch or my bed. Now I had to put pressure on them to get down and up again. I did carry a foam mat with me to slide under my knee as I went down and came up and I did it, I figured out how to get on the ground.

Sit ups are another story :O) Every day he has the group do 25 and I would strain with my shoulders coming just inches off the bench, and then the ground but I never "sat up" and I was sure I never would. "Okay 25 sit-ups"... "Unh, unh, unh, unh..." and then one day in December I was UP! "Chris!" I said, "I'm sitting UP!" and everyone laughed :O) "Do it again", He said. So I did, 19 more times. It was amazing!

We didn't work out the week of Thanksgiving and then Natasha and the grand kids stayed on through the next week so I stayed home then as well (have I mentioned yet that boot camp is 5:30 - 6:30 am?). The 2nd week of December I only made it twice. On Monday the 14 of December it was below freezing outside and I was running a little late. When I arrived the group was already running laps so I didn't warm up but just hopped right in. I was surprised at how out of breath I was, but I hadn't really exercised in 2 1/2 weeks so I just kept pushing. We did some lunges across the gym and I still couldn't breath but lunges aren't that easy, however when we started doing deep knee bends and I still couldn't catch my breath I started to panic. I was getting light headed and there were sharp pains in my chest. I moved away from the line and leaned against the wall, Chris asked if I was okay, gasping, "can't breath" he had me raise both hands above head. I leaned my face against the wall because I was feeling pretty warm and started talking myself out of the panic. Cassandra said it lasted about 10 minutes, but I calmed down and could breath and just assumed I had gotten really badly out of shape.

Okay - I hate to do this to you.... It has taken me 1 1/2 hours to write this! it is 10:30 at night, I'm not packed and my flight is at 7:30 tomorrow morning, sooooo.... happy ending I am writing this, however you will have to wait for part 2.