Get Into The Groove

            I am getting back into the groove folks. I am re-commiting to a plan of activity. I was suffering from burn out for about a week but after last week's meeting I decided that it was time to push myself. There are always going to be other things going on in life. My mom is still in the hospital. But I need to remember one of the most important things about my Weight Watchers journey. That it's all about me and what I am going to do about it. My schedule will be a bit hectic from now on but I have to get into the groove.

                Last Wednesday, I started with a long walk around the neighborhood. I usually use my local track but I wanted to invigorate my new start. At the end of my work from home day I grabbed my hubby, two sons and my son's friend and we all did a tour around the perimeter of our complex. We were lucky because the weather cooperated.We walked at a pretty good pace and talked and played games like "that's my car" and tag. No adults were harmed during tag. My hubby and I did not run from "it". We just kept tagging each other until one of the kids came too close. Then we tagged them. We saw the first few signs of Spring. At the end, I did not want to go inside( the temperature was going to drop again that night).
               On Thursday I joined a local gym that I have had my eye on lately. After the extraordinary winter we've been having, I did not want to lose my walk/jogging skills that I am trying to build up. I chose this gym because it's six blocks away from the office and it's open 24 hours Monday through Friday. I will have to miss out on the weekends because I probably won't come into the city just to work out. So first thing Friday morning, I woke up at 4am so that I could catch the 5am bus into Manhattan. All you single ladies out there- there is nothing but men traveling at that hour. So I climbed on the "testosterone bus" and made my way to the gym. I have not been inside of a gym since 1996. Yes, I did say 1996. I was not sure that I knew how to work the equipment. I could not get an instructor for that morning but I could not wait one more day. It has been fifteen years, you know. So I winged it. I found the stair climber in an isolated area ( that use to been my favorite exercise machine back in the day). It's not so hard. Climb on. Press start. Enter your weight. Enter you level (hello? one!).I entered twenty minutes and the next thing I knew, I was climbing. It actually wasn't so bad thanks to Ms. Bitchcakes stair climbing challenge. Before I knew it, it was five minutes, then ten, then fifteen and finally twenty minutes. I didn't explode or disintegrate. I had climbed 40 flights of stairs.
                      The next machine I tackled was the treadmill. I have a confession to make. I have never used a treadmill. By that time there were other people around. So I climbed on, pressed start and started walking. Once I got my walking legs, I turned up the speed a little at a time. Then I turned up the incline. I walked for 30 minutes. Then it was time to get to work. This was a brand new experience for me. I am very excited by it. I do not have pictures of the gym yet because I am still feeling my way around. It's a nice gym.

   On Saturday, it was my first official( which means paid and timed) 5K in Flushing Meadow Park near CitiField (Home of the New York Mets baby!). And I got to do it with my two WW homies Cindy and Tamra. My sons Josh and Jake traveled from the Bronx to Queens so early that it was still dark outside. Even though I started practicing a few weeks before, I was feeling a little run down. Cindy and I decided to do the walk/jog combo and keep up with each other. Tam, who is practicing for another race wanted to  do her best time. We gave her permission to flat-leave us. I went to the porto potty run before the start of the race. There was a mirror on the door. I looked right into the mirror and told my nervous self that "the only thing stopping me is me". How's that for a little positive self talk. And then we were off. Cindy and I started off jogging and then we alternated jogging and walking. It was lots of fun. There were others alternately jogging and walking in groups or in pairs. There was nothing intimidating about. I took a few pictures along the way but my batteries died at the one mile mark and Josh was holding my bag.

              As we ran to the finish line, there was Tam, Cindy's boyfriend Pete and my sons Josh and Jake cheering us on from different areas. Then it was onto to the post race snack line. I was thirsty but I took a donut and muffin for the guys. For some reason they did not pass out water. I was forced to drink blue powerade which I promptly turned over to Jake after a few sips. We went to a "Got Milk" table and Tam and I had our pictures taken. We walked around for a bit cheering on the 13.1 mile runners and then searched for a place to eat. For some reason that proved a little too hard for us. We will plan for a "chow down" restaurant for our next race. We did a little shopping. I rewarded myself with a new pair of sneakers.They're sliver and pink. Yeah! In the end, me and the boys made our trekk from Queens to the Bronx. When I got home, I made myself my first peanut butter and banana sandwich. I never had one before. I did not know what I was missing. Yum. After I rested a while, I went back out to hang out in Barnes and Noble. I am a book geek. I could spend hours in a book store. I read my pedometer at the end of the day. It said I walked 27,729 steps.

             



                   




      







       Sunday and Monday were not big workout days. But first thing Tuesday morning, I was back on the "testosterone bus" back to the gym for my 6am workout. This time I pressed level 3 on the stair climber for 20 mins. I had to keep talking myself through that one but I was proud of myself at the end. I did 42 minutes on the treadmill. Every few minutes I raised the speed and the incline. It felt great.
This Week's Activity
Tues.- all day- 3pts
Wed.- walk around the hood - 7pts
Thurs. -all day - 8pts
Fri.- 20 mins/40 flights stair climber + 30 mins treadmill + all day - 11pts
Sat. 5K + walk round Queens and the Bronx - 18pts
Sun. 0ptsMon. 3 pts
TOTAL PTS = 50 pts
                 This week I lost 1.2lbs bringing my weight loss back to 47lbs so far. This week's meeting topic was about challenging yourself and boy do I know about that. Everything I do is a challenge. When I think back to the way I was before, I can hardly believe the things that I can do now. Weight Watchers promotes it's WALK-!T Challenge at this time of the year. Last year, since some of us did not want to do an organized 5K or we created our own by walking around Manhattan for 3.1miles mapped out by Tamra. I think that walking together chatting and taking pictures makes it feel less like a race but it is still a challenge. We kicked off the first 5K of this year last month. This Thursday is the second 5K of the year beginning at 6:15pm on the corner of East 43rd St and Lexington Avenue( in case anyone wishes to join us). 
               One of my addictions to walking has been a pedometer. There is something gratifying about seeing all those steps I took after a long walk. For example, here is what I walked this week,
T- 8452 steps
W- 10,788
TH-11,591
F - 15,068
S- 27,729
M- 8,243
                  So get out there and do what you can and enjoy what you do.
WALK FROM THE BRONX TO SEATTLE

2,806.64 - 34.8 miles = 2,771.84 miles to go