I did it!

As is my usual practice on Sunday mornings, I met up with Sara and we went walking around Discovery Lake.  We did six laps around the course, which ended up being 4.3 miles.  I burned 801 calories.  Yay!  What's so amazing is that when she and I get together to walk every week, it never really feels like exercise because we chat as we go and we don't walk super fast.  Just a couple of girls talking, laughing and having fun while shrinking our booties at the same time.  If you want to get out and exercise and it feels too much like exercise, then do it with a friend.  I noticed we weren't the only ones out there with friends.  In fact, most people there were with other people.  After we were done, I committed to her that I was going to go and open that gym membership that I talked about yesterday before I went home so I wouldn't chicken out. 

Having just exercised and feeling all pumped up, I strolled into the gym and announced to Miss Peppy behind the counter that I'd like to join the gym please.  I felt like such a geek after the words came out of my mouth ... One gym membership, please!  There were no less than three people helping me fill out the paperwork.  Must have been a slow morning.  Their basic plan is $9.99/month, but their premium membership was just $10 more which then allows me to work out at any of their gyms, bring guests as many times as I would like, have unlimited access to massages, etc.  So I signed up for that one.  I looked around while they were processing everything and it was just everyday people, like me, working out there.  Older people, younger, married, single.  I wasn't intimidated in the least.  Funny how that is after how worked up I had gotten everything in my mind, isn't it?  I'm looking forward to hitting it tomorrow.  I texted Sara and told her I followed through.  I was pretty darn proud of myself.

There's something fun about a 5K
with people dressed up as turkeys!

On Thursday, before heading out to my brother's house in Vegas, I'm going to be participating in the Oceanside Turkey Trot 5K with Sara, her family and some of her Optifast peeps.  My mother dropped a bomb yesterday morning that we may need to leave for Vegas sooner in the morning and I pouted because that meant I wouldn't be able to participate.  My sister-in-law is having surgery the day before.  However, us leaving for Vegas just a few hours earlier is not going to change the fact that she needs to have surgery.  My mom wanted to help my brother cook the meal, even though he has friends that will be there.  I thought about it and this is one of those times in life I had to put my foot down.  First of all, I want to do the 5K.  I've been looking forward to doing it.  Secondly, exercise really helps with pain management for me because when I exercise, my body feels better.  Given we're going to be sitting in the car for five hours traveling to my brother's place, I want to feel as good as possible.  Besides, getting in physical activity is an important part of my life.  Third, and most importantly, we will not be able to prevent my sister-in-law from having to have surgery simply by being there sooner.  My brother has friends that live there that will be coming to the Thanksgiving feast who can help him with chopping celery and peeling potatoes.  In fact, he didn't ask my mom to come and help ... it was her idea to come sooner.  I get why she would want to, but our presence there sooner doesn't erase the reality of what's happening.  I'm the one that's driving and leaving after the 5K is over doesn't set us back timewise at all.  In fact, we'll probably get there the same time we usually do since the race is first thing in the morning.  After thinking about it, I told my mom that we'll leave when we orginally planned on doing so.  We're going to be there for four days afterall. I have got to take care of myself.  Is that being selfish?  I really don't think so because if my brother truly needed us, I would be there in a heartbeat. He knows that.  In fact, we texted each other today and he was perfectly fine with it, no worries at all.  When I told my mom, there was some silence on the phone.  Then she came back with, "But what if there's traffic on the road?"  I said to her, "Mother (she knows she's annoyed me when Mother comes out), when have we ever encountered traffic on the freeway on Thanksgiving??"  The truth is, no one is on the road on Thanksgiving.  One year there was an accident that caused a back-up, but normally there's nothing.  So I told her, no, we're leaving at the regular time.  Talk about putting my foot down ... I'm stomping my foot down!