Steve and I are up at my parents' house in the wilds of New Jersery for the weekend. Today we took a short (weezing, panting) run, then we played football with my brothers and cousins for an hour in the cold and snow. An abundance of deer poop made play a bit tricky, so we came in after a couple sneaker casualities.

Before I began to feel too good about all that activity, I wolfed down a piece of filet mignon and a bunch of "extra fancy" mixed nuts for lunch. We couldn't figure out what merited the "extra" in that description.

Tomorrow my parents are throwing us an engagement party, so we're really looking forward to that. It'll be nice to see some old family friends and celebrate.

Also, Steve's mom is going to meet my parents for the first time, so that will be fun. Our moms have spoken on the phone, but that's been it. I think they'll get along, so I'm not worried.

I signed up for a one year membership at a gym near work.

It only takes one word to describe my impression of this place: playground. 

Now I can see it so clearly. I was spoiled rotten.

Over the past seven years, I was lucky to have insanely awesome fitness facilities in the same buildings where I worked, which made it rather easy (well, convenient anyway) to stay in fighting shape by working out a couple days a week on my lunch break. I knew how good I had it, and I miss that luxury.

I am far more productive when I keep myself in shape, because I have way more oomph and a higher level of brain functioning that way. When I get sluggish and sloppy from not working out, then I become tired all the time and slightly dim.

But, I figured that with my new job and lack of fitness center, I would simply start using the gym in our condo complex instead. Yeah, as it turns out, it’s not that straightforward.

At any given time, our little condo gym has about 4 out of 8 cardio machines that are fully functioning – meaning that you can actually turn the damn thing on, adjust the incline, and it won’t try to cool you down mid-workout. So while it’s pathetic that the place is like a cardio machine convalescent center / morgue, there’s usually an unbroken machine available for use, and it’s guaranteed at 6 in the morning when I’ve been the only one in there lately.

So fine. I can do all the cardio I want. But strength training is beginning to pose a problem. I find the weight equipment to be royal pile of suck -- mostly because the leg press machine doesn’t provide a full range of motion for me. So I should just find other things to do, but I’m getting incredibly sick of squats and lunges. And really, I haven’t been motivated to do a whole lot of strength training without shiny, finely-tuned equipment to play on. Sounds silly when I spell it out for myself that way. Yup, spoiled rotten.

But whatever the reason, the bottom line is that now I’m losing muscle, and it’s not cool. When I lose too much muscle, then I’m far more prone to injury due to the fact that my joints go unprotected, and also because for me, muscle loss = slow metabolism = fat gain = joint stress and just general stress-stress, because I really use working out as a way to keep my moods upbeat and my sleep more sound. And cardio alone does not cut it, since it’s only half the equation.

So I decided today that -- while I’ll still use the cardio machines at our condo gym (they’re right downstairs!) -- I need to join a full-throttle fitness center near my office if I’m going to keep myself fully healthy and energetic with some solid strength training.

I just looked up the place that my boss recommended (she’s training for the same 10-mile race that Steve and I are registered for.) This fitness center has a 22-minute express strength training set-up so I could go either before or after work and I’d hardly take any time out of my day.

Tomorrow is the day I set foot in there, and I’m super excited about it. I am fitness dork; hear me roar.

I hope you have a lovely (or at least bearable) time with your families today and tomorrow.

Then on Wednesday, it's back to work! Well, for me at least.

Love you guys,

Katie 

PS: I ran three miles today. It was ugly, but thank god I made myself do it, because now I feel ahsum! 

Yesterday was a (partial) success. I managed to shower and make myself up. I also cleaned up most of the apartment, stopping short of the living room. I sound like I’m recovering from a serious illness -- and I am, if you can call laziness an illness. I do have to give myself some credit, seeing as work has been rather exhausting, so one weekend of patting myself on the back for showering is allowed, I suppose.

But anyway, the partial apartment clean-up is where any hint of virtuousness came to a screeching halt yesterday. I did not work out, nor do I think I really even intended to, if I’m completely honest about it. I also didn’t do a lick of Christmas shopping, although now I know exactly what to get for everybody. For dinner last night, Steve and I went out to a hibachi restaurant. On the way home, we laughed at how I’d deluded myself into thinking that hibachi is healthy, the way they serve up that giant pile of fried rice … and with the sheer abundance of food placed in front of you, it’s almost impossible to eat a reasonable portion size.

Today we’re feeling a tad sobered on the fitness front. We’re not where we want to be, and we need to whip ourselves into some shape. This is an especially important goal, since Steve and I are registered to run a 10-mile race this spring and there’s no way I want to go into tackling 10 miles feeling unprepared in any way. So today I’m charging my MP3 player and I’m going to see how well I do at jogging five miles.*

I also need to figure out when I’m going to finish cleaning the apartment. And I need to plan and shop for some healthy meals for this week, and I gotta get my ass to the mall. So today is another day of trying to get my act together, although I can tell that I’m feeling a bit more motivated today, seeing as I’m getting started a whole hour earlier than yesterday.

Baby steps.

*Okay, maybe 2 miles.