I'm Back!!

Well....I am finally back at it!!! Yes, you guessed it by the pic ~ I went to the gym tonight. For the first time in 4 weeks!!!! :)

I have missed the gym so much....from the person who greets you with "have a great workout" when you arrive....to walking through the glass doors to be greeted by the sights, smells (oh the aroma...lol) and sounds of being in the gym! To the moment you leave, feeling warm from the inside out, and feeling completely rejuvenated and the person at the desk waves a "goodbye hope you had a great workout" to you!

I hopped onto my favourite machine ~ the arc trainer....putting my feet into the waiting platforms which give you the feeling of "floating on air". Pushing the oh so familiar buttons with a bleep here and beep here I set off in motion. The familiar glide felt so wonderful to this body of mine. The sound of the thump, thump, thump of someone running on the treadmill and the clack, clack, clack of the arms on the cross trainer and the heavy breathing of the people around me was music to my ears. The familiar and unfamiliar faces of those who felt the call of the gym tonight and the sight of the closed captioning across the screen of the tv....and the powerful sight of the many wonderful machines to choose from. Oh how I had missed the gym. And of course we can't forget that smell that greets you as you open the glass doors ~ that musty smell of the vast array of body odours that permeate the room....somewhat similar to the smell of a grade six / seven classroom ~ just not quite as "fresh" (those who have ever braved entering such a classroom on gym day, or any day for that matter, know exactly what I am talking about). It didn't take long for this body of mine to begin to feel my heart beat faster, my body temperature to rise and my muscles feel the pure joy of being worked hard!

After 20 minutes on my favourite arc trainer ~ yes it took everything in me not to push myself too hard and end up overdoing it....those who know me well will know what a challenge that would have been for me... I went into the weight room. The familiar clank of the weights....the sound of CFOX playing on the stereo...yes, I felt like I was "home"! I used a variety of machines ~ yes even the machine that I swear shouldn't be used by a woman in front of a man....it is just too weird (those who have been to the gym with me know exactly what machine I am talking about).

I finished my evening at the gym with 10 minutes more of cardio ~ this time on the cross trainer because while I was in the weight room the cardio room became packed with people. Then some nice stretching.....my least favourite part....unlike my dear workout friends! :)

I have missed working out so much. Who would have thought a year ago that I would be speaking those words. I was the constant "mocker" of those who chose to spend time at the gym ~ don't you have anything better to do with your time like going for coffee, hanging out with friends, spending time online....surely there is something better to do than work out. A few things and one catalyst in particular led me to the gym....to make the choice to take care of myself, to become healthy. And here I am eight months later missing the gym when I am not there because I know now how very much working out has made me so much healthier in mind, body and spirit! :)