I Survived BOOTCAMP

Now that the girls are married the house is empty – And I am lonely without them. The three of us actively try to find ways to spend time together. (monthly Pedicures are already an ongoing event) We have found that it is too easy for a week to go by and while we talk almost everyday, we don’t spend real time with each other. We decided that we would start taking classes together through the local community centers. Sandra found the perfect introduction to exercise – Bootcamp. (Due to work conflicts and her really sore shoulder, Stephanie could not participate with us this time. The next class is her choice) What we really liked about the brief synopsis of the event was ‘you only complete against yourself’. This phrase lead us to believe that the class would be full of older out of shape women. What we should have concentrated more on was the name of the class BOOTCAMP. I have to tell you that while Tyler was so supportive of Sandra, there were other family members who found our registering for the class more than entertaining. It made me almost have a complex –am I crazy to think I can do this? Let them chuckle we would have fun. So this past Tuesday 1/13/09 was our introduction evening. Class started at 5:45 so I went to Sandra’s house at 5:00pm, stayed and visited for 30 minutes and then we drove the short distance to the community center. We found the class quickly: ladies already had blue exercise mats on the floor, a step thing and weights. Blindly following instructions from a very energetic instructor we picked up a mat, step and weights. At 5:45 sharp, Maryann introduced herself, gave a quick overview of the evening and I started to melt. Sets of pushups, jumping jacks, crunches, jogging, sprints, upper body conditioning, leg swats. These were phrases I had heard about but this body has never actually participated in a regiment where I had to do these for over 35 years. I knew I was in trouble. Sandra and I started doing what we were told – slower than most, more awkwardly than some but the music somehow make it seem better. The laughter and banter back and forth of some of the ladies was welcoming. We fit right in. While some of our class mates were in much better shape than the 2 of us, we were able to keep up with the slower ones. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Two sisters came up to us as our set of 20 jumping jacks were starting to look more like a flimsy hand wave and they said – “We’ve done this before , we know how to cheat” The written words came to mind ‘you only compete against yourself’ rang true. So Sandra and I ‘cheated’ on our first night. If 20 sits was too much, 15 was good, if we were to sprint to the back wall of the baseball diamond and jog back, we would sprint ¾ of the way and walk quickly back. Ok, we sound like wimps, but it was really hard work. We were unprepared, no towel, no drinks –just us.
At the end of the evening we were hot, sweaty and walking seemed a little much to ask. We made it to the car and decided that Taco’s didn’t sound good for dinner so we settled for a cool fruit drink from Jamba Juice – pineapple, yogurt and other good things.
We knew we would be sore the next day, but Wednesday I learnt that even typing used more muscles than I thought possible. We are sore, but motivated to keep going and become like some of our classmates that can actually do the program without looking like we are going to pass out at any moment.
It was really fun. Even more fun because it was with Sandra. We laughed at each other, talked when we could, and just enjoyed the time together.
1 week done, 9 more to get into shape.