Fighting my age

I am definitely reaching that age. And how old is that age? Well, I suppose that it is different for all of us, but I am referring to that age when you feel your age. Well, this past summer, I felt 51. FIFTY-ONE!

It wasn't any one thing that made me feel my age. It was the accumulation of a lot of little things I think. Yes, time goes by much faster now. Yes, my knees have started to audibly complain when I bend them. Maybe most dramatically was my loss of energy. I don't have enough energy to grade. I don't feel up to painting the ceiling. I don't have the vigor to write on Xanga. It is all depressing.

Of course, I don't want to be a downer here on Xanga. I'm telling you all this because I've figured out what was wrong.

I don't exercise enough.

Yes, it was as simple as that. So since the first of August, I decided to fight the inexorable urge to give in to my age and have begun to exercise, again. On the first day, I huffed and puffed as I walked on a nearby trail for about an hour. I swear I was sweating like a pig. Oink, oink. How could I let myself get so out of shape? but I stuck to it, and in a week I was walking more briskly. By the third week I could walk and jog a bit. By the end of August, I could sustain a light jog for 45 minutes to an hour. Even M was impressed. You have such an obedient body. It responds exactly as it's supposed to.

I've lost nary an inch from my waist, but I have lost ten pounds, even as I have been lifting some light weights. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it means I've probably lost more than ten pounds of fat! Woo hoo! Anyway, since I'm doing butterflies with 25 pound dumbbells, I may develop cleavage to go along with my girlish figure. Nah... Too many inches in the waist yet...

Anyway, I feel a bit more peppy these days, thankfully, and just in time for football season! Hahahahahha!. So, I've been watching less drama--if you can believe it--and instead am listening to music when I squeeze in exercise time into my school schedule, although I still listen to J-pop. The song below by UVERworld keeps me going during my last legs when I jog. I focus on the beat and the legs keep churning.