Thursday, June 28, 2018

Boot Camp


         So it was August of 2006 when Sarah and John got engaged. The wedding was planned for August of 2008 – there would be a small window of days that month between John’s graduation from law school and the beginning of UGA football season, perfect for a wedding! I was very grateful to have two years’ notice, because that would give me plenty of time to lose weight! You know that losing weight has to be the first thought of any mother-of-the-bride in our culture, right?
         But as the next few months rolled along, there was no weight coming off. I had not been trying that hard, because, there was still enough time. And there was no Mission SlimPossible available then – and I would have cheated anyway.
         So the next spring, when the wedding was still more than a year away and Mike was tired of hearing me whine about my weight, he signed me up for a boot-camp thing that a co-worker of ours had been doing with great results. Mike did not sign himself up – just me. Such a dear!
         Boot camp was Tuesday through Friday from 7 to 7:45PM for, I think, three weeks. We also had to agree to a food plan set up ahead of time. Limiting my food was tough, but I did start losing pounds right away. The exercise was super tough, but anyone can do anything for just 45 minutes at a time, right?
We worked out in the parking lot of the boot camp office. There were a lot of jumping jacks. Like, we couldn’t just stand around in between exercises – jumping jacks were what we were supposed to be doing. Not a hundred and stop, no – just keep going! And then, I think it was starting in week two, we had to run a mile at the beginning of the session – which was five times around the building – this was a small strip mall. When had I ever in my life run a mile? And it was all so matter-of-fact – “run around the building five times and then we’ll continue on with the rest of the evening!”
         There are emails I still have wherein I documented in journal form the days of the boot camp. I ached all over, constantly, from day 1! And day 1 was just the orientation – paperwork and proving how many sit-ups and push-ups we can each do – my totals were 0 for both, but I guess that was enough for my body to ache the next day!
         After about three days, endorphins had kicked in and when a co-worker asked if I was going to sign up for Boot Camp II when Boot Camp I was all over I enthusiastically responded “Sure!”  I had started to lose weight and had squeezed into an old pair of pants. So, heck yeah! I’ll do a boot camp sequel!
         The Saturday after the first week of boot camp, Mike asked if I would please stop moaning every single time my body made any kind of move.
         The Saturday after the next week of boot camp, I was still hurting everywhere constantly, but I was hopeful that with just one week left, I was really going to finish the whole program – not quit, not get too injured to continue. That same afternoon, I twisted my knee helping Sarah move furniture. But I did not think I was too injured to return to boot camp.
         The first day of my third week of boot camp, I twisted my ankle – probably while trying to avoid further damage to my knee. I was officially finished with boot camp. Later I went to the doctor where an x-ray was taken. The ankle was sprained, not broken, thankfully. And apropos of everything, I got a boot that I was to wear for the next two weeks so my ankle could get better.
         So I started this post as an addendum to the last one to elaborate on why I don’t want to join a gym – but I haven’t even gotten to the gym part yet. There was still time left to lose weight for Sarah and John’s wedding. And there’s still another post to put down the story of my former gym membership.
023 20180628 Boot Camp

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