Evil has a name, time, and place

Today I introduced evil into my life.  It has a name, a physical place, and time that I will see it each and every day, and I can only blame myself.  Or wine.  I could blame wine since wine was involved when I let Brenna & Kathleen talk me into this evil. 

Okay, that’s a lie.  Well, not the wine part.  That’s 100% true. Saying that Brenna and Kathleen talked me into the evil, that’s a lie.  They mentioned it in passing, I heard them, and I interrupted.  “That sounds like fun.  I’m in.”

Dumb.  Because I’m one of those “principled” people where if I say I’m going to do it, even if I agree to it in an apparent drunken state of mind, I do it to the best of my ability.  I have always wanted to say that people can trust my word, which means that I have to follow thru. 

And I agreed to take part in this evil.  

A 5:00 AM Kickboxing Boot Camp.  6 days a week for 10 weeks straight.  With a nutrition plan. 

Why?  Why would I agree to something that in a mere 3 segment description contains so many things I loathe?!

If you asked me two weeks ago about the things I hate the most, I would have said this:

• Waking up before 7:30 in the morning (let’s be honest, anything before 9 a.m. has always been a struggle for me but 7:30 is the acceptable time for me to get my butt to work on time)
• Sweating and working out.  I don’t work out.  I play team sports and walk my dogs several miles a day.  That’s enough in my book.
• A nutrition plan that takes away my morning Mt. Dew(s – on super stressful days), alcohol, and forces me to eat a diet rich in protein and carbs – even when I’m not hungry.  I hate carbs – outside of fruit…and sugar. 

Even more confusing to signing up for such torture – unlike most who want this jump start, I’m pretty comfortable in my own skin.  I’m not in super great shape and could probably always use a little toning (thank you morning Mt. Dew), but I lead an active lifestyle.  My doctor tells me that all my “stats” are right on track, with only a concern that I have really low blood pressure and low cholesterol (both are almost too low).  I am a size 6 which is the exact same size I was high school.  In fact, I have only gone up or down about 5 lbs. since high school AND I have a pair of black capri’s that I still wear on a regular basis that I bought when I was 17.  I am not doing this to lose weight.

So what would possess me that this would be a good idea?  Other than the wine…

I hate to say it, because I really don’t think that I’m going to freak out or anything when the day comes, but the idea of my 30^th birthday being 6 months away played a big part in this decision.  Which I broke down into smaller factors/lifestyle choices that I feel I probably should make now before my 20-some-year-old habits in a 30 year old body catch up to me and I can’t fit into those black Capri’s. 

I love the idea of being in the best shape of my life at the oldest point of my life thus far.

I love the idea of having a workout routine.  Routines are big for me.  Once I get into them, I don’t deter much.  My problem has always been that I never have been able to motivate myself to workout by myself – it’s too taxing and I like to spend my free time thinking.  How can you think when you have to be mentally telling yourself “Just a little bit further… one more mile…you can do it….”?  Willing myself to cover ground or lift weights is not relaxing for me like it is for others.  Again, I’m a team sport kind of girl.  I played softball and volleyball in high school.  I didn’t do any individual sports.  If I have someone I may disappoint if I don’t give my all, I will do what I can to give my all.  If it was me on my own… I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning.  Tackling this challenge with two close girlfriends, I won’t let them down.  And my hope is that after 10 weeks, a routine will be set and I will just keep going.  (More likely to happen if Brenna and Kathleen do this too).

I love the idea of being a morning person.  It doesn’t come naturally to me.  The rest of my family is so I’m not sure how I missed out on that gene.  I feel like morning people get more done and are more active.  I love sunrises.  I get to see a few every year for work, but I like the idea of seeing more of them. 

I love the idea of kicking the shit out of a 250 lb. bag as a way to get pent up feelings out of my body.  I do a very bad job of internalizing stress and I think this could be a great way to have a physical outlet for any stresses or frustrations that are building. 

I love the idea of a more balanced diet and planning menus ahead.  I will be honest, eating small snacks with smaller meals six times a day isn’t that far from what I do already.  But I don’t have a lot of variety in my diet and I don’t eat a lot of carbs, outside of sugar filled soda.  Which I know is bad for me, but it’s my one bad habit…. I found myself wanting to bargain with the instructor this morning (50 more reps for one Mt. Dew, PLEASE).  Although this hasn’t caught up with me yet, I know that some day it could. 

I love all these ideas.  I have always loved all these ideas, and have admired people who either came by these things naturally, or more impressively, have made the change.  So now, I’m challenging myself to make the change.  I really am happy about it and am excited to be making these changes.  I am confident that I will conquer evil.

Even though I’m excited, I felt the need to write this blog on Day 1 of boot camp as a warning.  None of the above ideas I love/lifestyle changes come naturally for me.  Every component of boot camp, other than ideas that I love to think about, I hate.  Not to mention the physical pain that I am in right now (I can barely lift my arms over my head).  Which is why I am using such strong language as evil and loathe in my description.

It is also why I feel that I need apologize ahead of time if I’m a bitch until I catch up to this evil routine.  

I would maybe avoid me until at least week 5.  Starting now.