operation train for Peru

wow, I am addicted to this exercise thing.

Yesterday, after many, many strenuous hours sitting on my couch and not leaving the apartment, I actually got this incredible urge to get up and MOVE. And so I hauled my ass to the gym (*gasp* no one is more surprised than I), where I still have two more months of membership before it runs out and UCLA takes over. I started off on the treadmill, and after my mile of running (alternating 3.7 with 5.4, 5.6, and 5.8), I realized that I was going to have to be in great shape to be able to hike Machu Picchu at altitude without troubles. So I stayed on that machine for another fifteen minutes, at a moderate pace (3.7) but at a steep incline (6.0). At this point, the sweat was literally dripping down my face and neck. I got my heart rate down, did a sprint for a minute (6.4), and walked the remainder of the two miles. Then I stretched. And then I did the bike for ten more minutes. Why? Because ironically, MY BODY WAS ASKING FOR IT.

I had that high that you get after you've been working yourself for about twenty minutes, but not working yourself so hard that you want to just lay on the floor and die. It was that feeling that I pushed myself this far, why not keep pushing? (This feeling is probably cousins with the feeling you get when you eat three brownies, and then think, "Why not three more?")

As an incentive to continue my fitness regime, I took out Augusten Burrows' "Magical Thinking" on CD from BevHillsLib, so that I would have something to listen to while running.

Miraculously, today I made it to the gym again and did the same workout BUT ADDED FIVE MINUTES OF INTENSE SIT-UPS. Am I insane, or what? (ComPLETEly insane, when you consider that in January, when I initiated my membership, I would meander around the gym trying out every machine for about sixteen seconds, at which point I would become bored and switch. My gym visits back in the day lasted a whole eleven minutes.)

I imagine that after a month of this craziness I will have the lithe, muscular body of a go-go dancer, the body I had before The Pill, but better and with boobs. As I sit at my desk typing, my stomach and sides are already aching tremendously. But it will be totally worth it, because guess what? I'm gonna bag me a Peruvian boyfriend.