Feels good to be sore

I caved. I thought I could hold off until I picked up another teaching spot, but after one-month-without-a-gym-pass, I just couldn't do it. This was my first stint without a gym pass since - jeez, before I was 18. I'd been doing some early morning short runs (with Kermit alongside), and they had been okay, but they just weren't cutting it. I'll be honest. I just don't love to run. I respect those who can pound the pavement for miles on end, but I'll be the first to admit that I am not one of them. Maybe it's all the years of dancing and the work I did on my feet and knees, and with every pound, I feel like I just want to save what is left of those joints for my later years.

Maybe it's just that I love the variety of a good class - doing some of this, some of that, being forced to concentrate and think about what and how you're doing it. Maybe it's moving to the music (again, the dance background) that I love. Or that bit of competition that I feel, standing in a room full of people, knowing that I can push a little harder, and keep moving because they are (Don't get me wrong, Kermit enjoyed the chase to catch a fellow jogging boxer and owner every morning)! Or that I just like being surrounded by people - listening and talking and building relationships.

Or, maybe it was this conversation:

Max: "Hey mom, what are we going to do tomorrow?" (the question I get every night)

Mom: "I have a few ideas - how about checking out a new park or something?"

Max: "Think you could get me a pass to the gym again? I really liked going to the Sandy gym."

Mom: long pause, quietly laughing that my four year old just asked for a gym pass. Realizing that maybe this is a good thing for all of us. "You're right, we should get a gym pass again."

Max: "Yeah, 'cause I really want to get my exercises done with the kids while you're at your class. I think I want to wear my exercise shoes." (in other words, "I really like to run around with the kids, mom - I'm a pretty social guy.")


So, he talked me into it. It reminded me how much I love group fitness classes, and how much I look forward to teaching them again.

Ah, we all have those constant battles and struggles of what and what not to do. Am I selfish to make this part of our routine? Should I allow my kids to be exposed to all kinds of germs and other kids who may or may not be as nice? The questions could go on and on.

I can't answer them for everyone, but I can say that Max has loved that time and has helped him build confidence in making new friends in any type of environment. And, I'll never forget this post. Alexis has built confidence in the time that she's been there. And, I can say that their sicknesses that they have had, haven't really stemmed from the gym (knock on wood). Now, church nursery, well that's just a whole other thing.

Without a doubt, I can say that I am a better mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter - okay - person when I go to classes. I can't begin to describe how fulfilling my fourish years of teaching has been - and how humbling it was to talk to the members as I was leaving, and hear them tell me how much I've helped them in their fitness goals, and in their live experiences. Things that I never heard or saw at the time.

My first teaching gig starts up in a few more weeks (wahoo!), at least until then I can enjoy the limbo time a little more - at the gym!