Jackson Free Press

I've been making a concerted effort to get healthy, as of late. In the past few weeks, I've taken up running, yoga and strength training. Sure, there is an aspect is vanity at play here, but there's also a dose of prevention.

I was recently shocked to discover, after my first post-forty physical, that I'm healthy as a horse, despite forty years of abusing my body. Feeling as if I'd been given the proverbial "get out of jail for free card," I figured the next forty years should be lived as healthily as possible.

If you've been following this 6WeekTo6Pack Challenge, here on the Jackblog, you'll recall how difficult it was in the beginning. For someone like me, who stopped playing outside when my parents finally got a satellite dish, running was something I did when I was in a hurry. In my adult life, I couldn't tell you when I last, if ever, attempted to run a mile.

In week two of the challenge, Terry Sullivan of liveRIGHTnow, sent me on a three mile run with his wife and sister-in-law. It was a dreadful undertaking that seemed to last forever and was filled with earnest pleas to God to keep me from throwing up, and audible wheezing that gave Meredith more than just a little concern. I walked at least a half-mile of the three, but I did it. Of course, I could stop there, but that wouldn't be like me at all, now would it?

I squatted at the end of my driveway sweating profusely, trying not to get sick, while thanking the girls for their support and encouragement. Justin, who seems to be freak of nature able to leap from the sofa after no training and run a marathon, was doing figurative back flips on the yard and hoping i wouldn't embarrass him with the need for an ambulance.  It took a good twenty minutes to get up the driveway to the front steps, all the while fighting off blackouts, nausea or the dreaded trots. "This," I thought to myself "is bulls@#t."
 
Three weeks later, on a Thursday evening, I stood in the street and lost all the color in my face as Terry began to prepare me for that day's workout.

"Getting you ready for a 5K is our immediate goal." he said, and I could sense the giant "So..." hanging in the air.  "So, today you're running your first 5K without stopping. No matter what, we keep going and we never walk. Okay?"

I looked at him and imagined this was  how it felt to find out you ARE the father, on Maury Povich.

"Fine." I said defiantly. "But I'm not running uphill the whole time." and said a silent prayer to God, Cher and Oprah.