Why I Love This Stuff

Hello people! Hope everyone had a fabulous Erin’s Express/ St. Patricks day weekend. Snowy St. Paddy’s Monday was fairly mediocre over here. Although I did have a delay and missed a three hour painting class in which I am painting a heinous dress on a headless mannequin, so I was definitely okay with missing that thrilling morning. I proceeded to have an afternoon of class, gym, class, and homework. It’s finally 11 and I am plopped on the couch watching Criminal Minds and attempting to bake a cashew meal loaf (it was supposed to be muffins but our tins are MIA…also I used orange champagne vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar? I’ll letcha know what happens). Does anyone else think Criminal Minds is phenomenal? After a 13 hour marathon one day my roommates and I contemplated setting up a Behavioral Unit in our house since we felt sufficiently trained. Alas no one has called us for help finding serial killers as of yet but the option is on the table.

So I thought I’d share my own personal fitness journey and why this stuff has become so important to me. This is about how I work out, since my weird eating process is its own tale. I have to credit my friend Walter for this post idea, who’s been army-ing and college-ing far from me the past several years, and missed the growth of this stage in my life. He commented on my first post with the question “where’s this dedication coming from?”, which got me thinking….

So where did it come from, you may ask (or probably not, but I’m telling you anyway ha ha!). I’ll start with about age 12 or 13 when I started running. My neighborhood friends would go for runs and pick me up on their final mile, during which I would die and roll on the ground wheezing with cramps while they looped cul-de-sacs around me. I actually stuck with it though, mostly because I wanted to be a part of their little group. Eventually, thankfully, I did get better, and could do several miles without going down.

Enter high school, throughout which I ran track with many of my best friends. I loved the team, and the weird bonding that came with running 400s in 30 degrees. I was definitely in running shape (not to say I was any kind of star runner), but I didn’t love the sport itself enough to work for it. I liked working out as a team, but it wasn’t that exciting to me when I was alone in a gym, nor was I particularly sure what to do with myself. Then I decided to pick up tennis going into my sophomore year. I’d played every sport under the sun without loving or excelling at any of them, including swimming for 12 years, but nothing captured my heart quite like tennis. Suddenly I found something I was willing to work for! I was training hours every day with the goal of first making the team, then making varsity, and finally ending my senior year in a top singles spot. Sadly, those gains went down the drain pretty fast after I stopped playing often (shout out to VCT ;P ), but I still love the sport. And it’s really what sparked my love of fitness. I was lifting (ish) so I could hit harder, jumping rope to be faster…it was exciting! But off-season track/tennis, when I wasn’t practicing, I had this totally unsustainable relationship with working out. I had this routine that hopped from cardio machine to cardio machine, with abs and leg moves thrown in, that could last two hours. I’d do this every day for a week or two, totally burn out, stop for a week, and repeat. It was unvaried and often felt more like a chore than anything else. I’ve always loved how I feel when I’m working out regularly, but the actual time spent in the gym wasn’t always that great.

Enter college!  Suddenly sports were casual, fun, club/intermurals and in no way were gonna keep me in shape. Plus I landed this roomie who went to the gym every damn day, so I had no excuses. Freshman and sophomore year remained fairly similar to high school. I went most days and did essentially the same thing every time, primarily cardio.

Then…I went to Italy for a semester. Anyone who’s been to Florence…imagine running there. Teeeeny cobblestone streets and a bajillion people. Eventually I did find routes I was comfortable with, but working out took creativity. I wasn’t able to do nearly the amount I was used to, and I had to come to terms with that. I’m sure a lot of you understand that weird anxiety that comes with not working out the way you want…and this was 4 months! So I ran some, jumped around in my apartments living room courtesy of YouTube (Sorry people under me. I think I literally almost took down the ancient floor), and started doing yoga videos with my roomies. Suddenly the world didn’t end if I didn’t do an hour of cardio! And when I came back, I discovered a couple fitness blogs that literally changed the way I thought about working out forever. Holy moly weights! Intervals! Attempting to run sprints for the first time since high school track! Which I will tell you occurred in a park near my house at school on a 90+ degree day and ended with nearly vomiting and telling my roommate she might have to pick me up. I staggered home but it took so long she drove around looking for my corpse with water bottles and cold towels…life saver.

I started reading everything I could get my hands on about fitness. And this year has been the most amazing change so far. I’m still a little intimidated by the boys’ section of the gym (we all know the unspoken divisions), but I’m confident in what I know and can do. I know how to listen to my body and push myself or take it easy…or even off!… as it needs. I know how to (gasp) vary my workouts and change up the muscles I use! I think the most important transformation…which has been a long process and by no means a sudden wake-up… is that I don’t work out to look good as much as I do to feel good. Not training for a sport made it hard to find motivation, but now I find motivation in the times I’m able to run faster and lift more than I was the month before.

But best of all, I have amazing friends with the same love of this stuff I have, who are willing to try out workouts I both find, and make up, with me, teach me what they know, and have so much fun (usually haha) doing it. I definitely have tons more to learn, but I’m in the best relationship with fitness I’ve ever been. I’m not fighting for a spot on any team anymore, and I’m not trying to burn 700 calories on the treadmill (or bygollyIwon’tgetoff!!) but I’m trying new things, setting mini-goals, and loving every (okay- most….no one likes a burpee tabata are you kidding me) minute of it. So much so that I started this little bloglet and want to make a career out of writing about this stuff! I also have dreams of getting various certifications, including Zumba instructor, because it’s JUST SO FUN… but I need to fix my white-girl salsa aka spasms before I get there. And I still love a good run with my neighbors, sans cul-de-sac death rolls.

  <— high school track buddies taking it off the track and into the sewers

 **shoutout to Jessica who may have missed SkyRobics but still inchworms around Davis with me on the reg.

<—- We may not be working out, but this is that freshman year roomie who kept me on track, and is now a top interval buddy/co-workout creator. Plus it’s St. Patrick’s Day.

 <–The Italian yoga studio, better known as the hostel.