Today was a payoff day. A sweet little reward for putting in hours of hard physical work. I was tired this morning but wanted to work out today anyway so I just set my sights low and dropped my pace to a crawl and relaxed into the rhythm of it all. I've been at it now since the middle of February pretty steady. I've been marking a calendar on the forums here since the 22nd of February. I haven't missed many days and I'm not breaking down yet. I usually find a way to over do things like this.

Sorry... I'll get back to the story I had intended.. what's with all these distractions anywho? ehehh

I guess it was because my head was in a good relaxed state where I had no expectation of any kind of performance that the time turned out to be such an extreme pleasure. I didn't get warmed up until about 10 minutes into it, but once I was warm I stopped to take my sweat shirt, toque and neck tube off and the beauty of the day hit me like a good spicy Italian sausage.. ehh

Weeks and weeks it seems I've been plodding through this dedicated commitment to exercise with much of it looking very much like plain old simple hard work but not today. Today it was bright. So bright my 17% glacier glasses were not overkill. ehh Although it was about -7C there was almost no wind and the sun was a blazing it's spring warmth down on me a teeshirt and jeans were enough to be comfortable. I took a break to give the dog a good going over.. She's getting quite big and I ended up with a lot of snow all over me from a couple perfectly executed tackles. Amy the dog is a handful to take down.. you really have to wanna..

The payoff is in that feeling. That feeling of well being. I was aware of feeling strong. Not fragile or lethargic. The act of sprinting out to catch the dog broad side or dropping flat to the ground just as Amy thinks you are headed over top.. a keen reminder to be grateful for this temple I call a body. It won't always function as well as it does today but today it was vital and brimming with life's juice.

I suppose tomorrow will be back to the drudgery of the workout but I will watch for the next gift of peace and pleasure and I'm sure it will come if I can continue to put in my time.
Cheers! Ian.

That's a yummy picture you paint. I was going to start again with TaeBo today but I came down with a cold yesterday and so felt like crap. (When I resist, my whole body gets into the act!)

So I'm going to try again tomorrow. Thanks for your inspirational post.

Today marks a month that I committed to some friends here to get a regular workout going. I've missed very few days.

The real news is that I've always hated doing stuff alone but it seems that even this limited contact on-line is proving to be a huge help in keeping me motivated to keep it up. It dosen't feel like I'm doing it alone.

Normally I lose interest or I injure myself or like you.. get sick somehow. I'm actually feeling pretty dang strong just now. I'm tired at night but hey.. I think that's pretty normal for most folks. I'm a terrible sleeper so this is a welcome side effect.

Keep us posted on your progress but look after the cold first...< g >

Once you get going you should join the thread in the men's forum and we'll get a bit more physically able with the guys there... if you want I mean. I want.. heh they are a great crew.
Cheers! Ian.