Runner's High

Catherine and I have been on a major workout kick lately, and we don't plan on stopping it anytime soon. We've been going to the gym pretty much every single day for the past two weeks, no excuses, and working out a whole lot harder than I normally do--I've run more, done more pushups and lunges and ab exercises, and lifted more weights in the past two weeks than I have in such a long time. This girl, who's normally content to just do a Zumba class or jog some or shoot some hoops, is getting used to running a few miles basically every time I go to the gym. It's often the last thing I actually want to do after a long day of school work, but I know it's good for me.

And I feel great. I have so much energy (as in, I feel slightly caffeinated, without the coffee, pretty much all the time and am naturally more alert and focused) and I just feel strong and physically capable, which is a really good feeling to have. And there's nothing quite like the endorphin rush from a good run. Today I was actually quite satisfied to realize that I'm going to need to buy new running shoes because I've basically cracked the soles on my old ones. There's something really satisfying about realizing that you can lift 100 pounds, or run for one minute longer than you could last week.

And I don't believe I would have the energy to do all the work I need to be doing right now if I weren't exercising so much, so I'm telling myself, I think truthfully, that I don't have time not to work out. Today we went to the football field and ran up and down all the bleachers, and ran sprints, and did pushups and crunches, and came up with all these other random cardio exercises. I think this coming week, we're going to add some swimming and biking to the mix. We've already run the stairs in my apartment building once before, and I think we'll definitely do that again (yep, all 10 floors of it). Catherine's trying to stay in shape for her upcoming army physical fitness test, and I'm just trying to get in shape for, you know, life. I want to be able to haul heavy grocery bags and books around with no trouble, and be able to run up two flights of stairs when I'm late to class, and know that I could defend myself if I ever needed to. So anyway, I think this is going to become my new lifestyle. I will probably never be one of those women who jumps out of bed on the weekends and goes and runs 10 miles, but really big and profound lifestyle changes start with really small ones. So I'm starting now.