Drumroll Please!

I did it! I have started to exercise. It took a loss of 40 pounds to get me motivated and boy am I charged! I am incredibly tired of walking around my block. Its boring after walking it umpteen hundred times in the 19 years we've lived here. But in the past Ive had to walk in the neighborhood because I've had babies and it was just too inconvenient to take them out. Well now my youngest is 7 and in school so I can walk!

I decided I wanted a hill so I could really get a workout. Im having a major flare up of tennis elbow so doing exercises that require my arm are out for now. I decided that now is the time to concentrate on strengthening my legs and working up a sweat. Having not exercised aerobically for about ten years now I wasn't sure how much of a hill I could take. That didn't stop me, however from choosing the steepest hill in town and climbing up its backside!

I dropped my daughter off at class at 8:30 am. I left the car parked right there and walked down a steep hill. It leveled for about a block then dropped again. I wasn't sure how far to go down the hill because I knew I needed to come back up. When I decided I had probably gone far enough I turned around and began the climb up. My legs were itching so bad from blood being forced to the surface skin; places that usually don't require that much blood flow. I didn't mind though. I recalled this from years ago when I used to be a huge fan of exercise. Yes there was a time in my life when exercise was like a drug to me and I loved it.

Today I also noticed by the time I reached the top of the hill that I had a splitting headache. The headache went away after about five minutes in the car. It must have been from increased blood flow too. Goodness, my poor old body didn't know what happened to it.

I walked up the hill as fast as I could. I was panting for breath and had to slow a little but boy was that a gorgeous walk. I found the most beautiful shaded garden hidden behind a cottage back in the woods. It was so shaded that the rock wall ran water out of the cracks and the flowers looked totally untouched from the summers heat. It looked like the kind of garden you find in storybooks where fairy's dwell.

All in all it was an invigorating walk and I felt like a million bucks when I was done. I clocked it later in the car and I had walked exactly a mile; half a mile down and half a mile back up. Now for you seasoned athletes that's child's play. For me it was monumental. It took me 20 minutes to walk the thing! Yes, I'm out of shape.

The walk was invigorating, the views were wonderful, and I got my first real sweating type aerobic exercise that I have had in this weight loss journey. But more than the exhilaration of the walk is the excitement I feel when I realize I have refound my love of walking. I cant wait to walk again tomorrow morning.

Gardening and mowing yards and such all summer definitely helped in getting me up that hill. I cant wait until that hill becomes such a breeze that I need to find a tougher one!

This is heady stuff people!