And one

   About 3 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to start exercising. I have never been a fan, but I know it is so good for the body, and one of these days I will look back and wish I had started now. So on a Saturday, I got Travis to take me to the Research Park to run. About 20 minutes later, I decided I am simply not cut out for it.

   Before my legs even felt a sting, I couldn’t breathe. I tried to breathe out of my mouth, which turned into a spot-on impersonation of the Big Bad Wolf. A few minutes later, that tingle set in. You know the signal from your muscles that means they are working? Well, my signal cried “Stop! This hurts!” No cell in my body likes that feeling. When I start to feel it, it is time to stop.

   So much for my grand intentions. I ran less than half a mile. Arguably, the reason my body can’t run a mile is because it never has. I was never on any kind of sports team where running was a warm up or cool down. I never belonged to a gym. No one ever asked or expected me to run, so I never did. And now that I am 22, with half the energy of myself as a preteen and joints that have stiffened a little more each year, I might as well be receiving a senior discount.

   But, I don’t want to accept defeat and wait until it affects my health twenty years from now. I just need to start small. So before I get back on the road (or treadmill in front of people who know what they’re doing), I will start with some small daily exercises at home to build strength and stamina. At this point I don’t have a measurable goal, as long as some activity occurs a few times a week.

   So if you feel my pain, maybe we can help each other. If not, just don’t laugh if you eventually see me huffing down University. 

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.  3 John 1:2

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." - Ralph Waldo Emerson