I'm a skinny girl, but not a healthy girl. My resting heart rate is in the 90s, I have borderline high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a kidney disease. This is my quest to get healthy, but I know I can't do it alone, so I am building a village of supporters through my blog.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Stepping it up....

Who knew when I first stepped on the elliptical a few months ago and could barely manage to keep going for thirty minutes, that it would become one of my regular go to work-outs. Even more surprisingly that it would turn out to be one of my most rewarding work-outs. It seems to continually challenge me to push myself just a little bit farther.

Yesterday wasn't any different. I found myself racing against an imaginary friend as I pretended I was running through the streets of Montclair on a beautiful day. It was that sensation of running that continually called me back to the machine. Running was a sport that was still a little out of my reach. I knew I had the stamina now, but anatomically it still presented a challenge that I hadn't quite worked out. For now the machine would have to do.

Instead of increasing the distance this time, I found myself pushing forward faster and faster in an effort to see just how fast my body could go. When I would feel my body start to slow down, I would try and imagine I was passing a racer to the front of me. Naturally, I would start picking up the pace again.  Before I knew it I had reached a two mile point quicker than I had reached it before.

I allowed myself to slow my pace and thought ahead to the day that I would be able to transition from the machine to the road. I'm sure it would be a struggle, just as it had been when I tried the elliptical for the first time. I knew I would have to talk myself through the entire first run, but some day soon, I also knew I would find myself running free along the paths, the wind in my face, the sun on my shoulders and the road under my feet.

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