Category: Exercise

  • My So-Called (Healthy) Life

    At yesterday’s weekly session, my personal trainer checked my measurements for the first time since late last year. The good news is that my body fat dropped another one percent and my calves are a tad thinner. Everything else–including my weight–was essentially the same. Read on for the bad news. No doubt, you’re thinking I…

  • My Fancy New Running Shoes

    After I first started running late last year, I went to Academy Sports to buy some running shoes. Frankly, my idea of a good running shoe came down to selecting the pair that would look best on me. Until recently, I had no idea that all the different kinds of sports attire are more about…

  • A New Me On the Way

    Until fairly recently, exercise was something totally foreign to me. About ten years ago–before I had settled down with my partner–this guy I was dating tried to get me to walk. I tried it a few times, hated it, and quit. In early 2006, a friend of mine loaned me a book called Younger Next…

  • Running Man

    I’ve been trying to run at least three times a week since September. Most weeks I find a way to squeeze all three runs into an overly busy schedule. You can’t possibly be as impressed by this as I am. Going to Zumba is a priority because it’s so much fun. I love dancing like…

  • Walking Georgia

    That my activity level has increased rather dramatically in the last six months is common knowledge among people who know me. I blame myself. Especially when I first became more active, the change was so drastic, wherever I went I talked a lot about all the new things I was doing. Three of my coworkers…

  • My Personal Trainer

    Before last year, other than for Physical Education classes when I was in school or to watch an athletic event, I’d been in a gym exactly once. Hated it. Didn’t have the first clue what I was supposed to do, did too much, and after suffering for the next week, vowed I’d never set foot…

  • 5K #2

    Today I ran in my second 5K race. My goal was to improve on the 40 minutes and 36 seconds it took me to complete the first one. Toward that end, I’ve been training for the last few weeks. This week, my plan was to run four miles on both Tuesday and Thursday. I had…

  • What on Earth Did I Do?

    Since the first of the year, I’ve been running like crazy. Seems like there’s never a spare moment to just kick back and relax. Well, that’s not entirely true, but I sure don’t have the kind of downtime I had just a few years ago. Four years ago, we didn’t have any dogs. It’s not…

  • Just Doing It

    The long break between Christmas and New Year’s seriously messed with my training regimen. Except for my thrice weekly Zumba classes, I quit working out, stopped running, and gained fifteen pounds. Going into the break, I thought the time off from work would enable me to exercise more. Instead, I lost all momentum and spent…

  • Zumba Challengers

    I’ve been hitting Zumba classes with the girls three or four times a week for several months now. Yeah, my partner comes to class with me. And a little old man showed up for one of the Zumbathons. Otherwise, the only men around mostly crowd around the windows to watch. I figured they were watching…