Sunday, August 2, 2009

In Which I Get off of My Lazy (Ahem) and Move a Little

Avram and I have begun exercising. You can all get up off the floor now. There are exercisers out there - who have gym memberships, and a smaller minority who actually use gym memberships. And then there is me. I had to spell the word exercise several times to even get the word right, that's how unfamiliar with the action I am. But I was at the doctor recently, and my pulse rate was 96, and I became very concerned about my health, and the possibility that I might die young from a heart attack because I'm so unhealthy.

So Avram and I decided to go and do a fast walk, some might even say a power walk, three times a week at a Metro Park, which are these awesome huge parks with miles of trails that Columbus has, and your city doesn't, poor you. We've done it four times so far, and I already feel more energized in life.

Never mind that my sister and I were talking, and she told me that people with Anemia (which I always borderline have. In fact, I just found out Elisheva's anemic too, because of me and nursing. Sad.) have higher heart rates. So I just have anemia, which I already knew, because the last time I tried to give blood I couldn't, and I'm not super unhealthy. Except I still have no muscles, they disappeared when I had children, and so although I don't need to lose weight, I would like to not feel like the world's biggest wimp.

Thus our exercising will continue, heart rates be forgot. And I love it. I've loved leaving the house on a regular basis, and doing wholesome family activities together. I love walking through nature and getting out of the city - I hate gyms, and pointless exercise only for the sake of exercise. And it's nice to know that you just walked three miles quickly while talking with your husband, and taking turns pushing a heavy (think muscle resistance) stroller up and down gravel hills. Life affirming, even.

My only regret is we didn't start this earlier in the Summer.

5 comments:

  1. I got similarly scared about a year ago. Started walking down six flights of stairs at work, 'cause I couldn't walk UP six flights of stairs, see? After six months, I got bored with walking down the stairs all the time, and tried walking up them. Another three months, and I was running up them. Well, most of them. Two months ago, I started timing myself. Last week, I broke 30 seconds. For SIX full flights of stairs. Not bad for a sixty-two year old who has never been athletic in his life! The moral: just keep walking! Don

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  2. i wish there was long scenic park trails here to walk! oh and that it was not 1005 degrees too... i was thinking when it cooled in the fall i could take the kids on walks through the neighborhoods. I do go to the gym though. and i like the classes there, and the daycare. but i am do enjoy doing my cardio outdoors if i can. i used to go on lots of walks in salt lake

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  3. Congratulations to you. I got really excited to walk every day early on in my pregnancy and felt great doing it for a few weeks. Then morning sickness kicked in and my desire to walk went out the window. And I'm not having any sort of second trimester revitalisation or anything, either.

    I haven't been good about exercise since Aaron was born so I feel the wimpiness you're talking about. Keep up your walking! That's a great family bonding time, too. Good for you.

    And I am a little poor that my town doesn't have parks like your city's but my I guess I'll have to content myself with the fact that my city is surrounded by forests that have tons of paths running through them and you can just spend hours walking through the forest and pointing out bugs and locating where the wild boars have been digging at dead tree stumps and following deer tracks and catching glimpses of snakes and having your kids tell you the names of different mushrooms in Polish, etc. I seriously always feel like I could be on one of the paths the Polish nobility rode through on hunting excursions in centuries past.

    But parks in cities are nice, too. ;)

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  4. Dave and I do Karate! I went to group classes up until I was 35 weeks pregnant with Sam, and I did private lessons until I was 40 weeks (Sam didn't arrive until 41 1/2 weeks).

    It was nice to do so much Karate during the pregnancy. Sam is almost 7 weeks old now, and I haven't lost nearly as much of my strength and stamina as I was afraid I would.

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