Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Things have been so terribly hectic for me. Mainly because I have been spending ALL my free time at the gym.
I have to go nine more times in the next eleven days in order to get the reimbursement that Brian's health insurance gives me. The deal is that each of us will receive $150 from Aetna if we visit the gym at least 120 times in a 365 day period. It's actually very EASY to go to the gym 120 times in a year, if you think about it. That averages out to about three times a week. That's not exactly grueling, Olympic-caliber training.
I enthusiastically began on April 1, 2005. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I took High-Definition Training, which was a small group class led by a personal trainer that focused on heavy weight lifting. So just taking that class for ten weeks guaranteed that I would be at the gym twice a week, at the very least. On two or three of the days I didn't take the class, I did cardio either on the treadmill or the bike. I was a good girl. A good, STRONG girl.
The class ended in mid-June. I continued to lift by myself faithfully for the remainder of the month, as well as doing the normal treadmill thing. I felt like I was on top of the world.
July came, and we began looking at new homes and put our house up on the market. At that point, chaos ensued. I was frantically trying to keep our house spotless at all times in anticipation of walk-throughs by potential buyers. That took up a lot of my time and energy. Plus, we spent many evenings after work meeting with our realtor and looking at prospective new houses. We'd get home, exhausted and hungry, and the gym routine pretty much fell to the wayside.
We found a house fairly easily, and our own townhouse sold after about a week on the market. Still, we faced the prospect of cleaning out all our junk and getting ready for the move. If I made it to the gym ONCE a week during this time, it was a miracle.
In August, we moved into our new house and started doing some work on it immediately (painting, new countertops, new appliances, etc.). OK, I'll admit it: I don't think I visited the gym more than twice in August. Shame on me.
September arrived and I began studying HARD for an exam that I wanted to take for my job. If I passed it, I'd get a $750 bonus. You can imagine what happened to my gym time.
In October, I finally felt like balance had been somewhat restored to my life. I began going back to the gym on a regular basis. But I was bored. However, my sense of boredom was superseded by the sensation of my pants getting tighter. Hee. There's nothing more motivating (for me, anyway) than a closet full of clothes that are beginning to fit improperly, or worse, not fit at all.
Unfortunately, the holiday season began shortly thereafter, and time was again at a premium. Of course, it didn't help that there were the usual heaping plates of goodies at every turn. Cookies, candy, cakes, booze, high-calorie meals, oh my! Between April 1 and December 31, I had only logged 84 visits to the gym. Eighty-four stinking times in 39 weeks. Totally pathetic. I knew I'd have to make a BIG comeback. I was going to get my $150 reimbursement, dammit!
January 1 came and I was...SICK. With strep throat and a high fever. Despite my best intentions to hit the gym with a revitalized fervor on New Year's Day, I didn't go. Probably best that I stayed home. Within a week, though, I was back in action on the treadmill! Also, as you read last week, I have begun weight lifting again. And I'm awfully sore but loving it nonetheless!
As of last night, I have logged 111 visits. I probably would have reached the 120-visit goal by now if I hadn't gotten deathly ill again in late February. That was completely unexpected, and it set me back about a week. But the clock keeps ticking. I won't be able to go tomorrow night because my boss is taking a few of us to the Flyers/Penguins game after work. So technically, I need nine more visits in ten days.
Eeek!
In My Head
