Making Peace with Fitness

As a child, I had undiagnosed asthma. So when it came time to run laps, or other P.E. activity, there was a good chance I'd have an asthma attack. Instead of caring about whether I was okay, most P.E. teachers simply mocked me, and made me feel even worse than I already did. One memorable experience was being left collapsed on the grass inside the track, turning slightly blue and fighting to breathe - the P.E. teacher simply sold me to bring in the balls when I was done, and then walked into the building. Needless to say, I developed quite an aversion to exercise.

Fast forward a few decades. A few years back, I decided I wanted a bicycle, despite not having ridden one since middle school. I got a really nice K-2 (The Big Easy Ace), which was around $300-400 at REI. I also invested several hundred more dollars to buy a really good bike back (it swings away so you can open the trunk), as well as having a 2" receiver hitch custom made and installed on my KIA. (KIA only provides a 1-1/2" hitch; hence the reason I had to have one made custom.)

These investments were, in my mind, a powerful statement about how much I wanted to get to a higher fitness level. I started out cycling short distances, a mile or two. Then I began doing five-mile rides, then ten, fifteen, twenty, and then settled on a loop that was 25 miles plus one-tenth of a mile. This was about two-and-a-half years ago.

Then, two years ago, I moved, when I broke up with a partner I'd been with for seven years. The move was exhausting, time-consuming, and I stopped cycling altogether, with plans to resume when the rainy season abated. Yeah, and guess what... I just never got back in the habit.

The good news is that the property at which I live has a 24-hour Fitness Center. I have a keycard that gives me access anytime day or night. I'd been sporadic about using the gym, but I'm determined to once again hard-wire my fitness routine into my life, as part of my overall lifestyle.

A friend on Twitter suggested I create this blog, as a public statement of my commitment to my fitness goals. A great idea, I thought. So, the good and the bad will be documented. Not daily, necessarily, but as things change and progress. Wish me luck!