Get up and Go

Having survived a day of yoga recovery, which entailed sleep, chills, hot baths, hot packs and tylenol three every four hours, I went to work in the evening for three hours and pretended nothing had happened.

Today I start anew. I hadn't been feeling motivated to walk. In past years, I started programs with me, myself, and I, but now I want company. Last week I called a neighbour who works at home and she agreed to walk on Tuesday at 8:30 am. Since Tai Chi and Yoga, my two other activites are not aerobic, walking should provide a good balance.

I woke at 7 and by 7:30 was dressed and sat sipping my morning tea. At 8 am Ruth calls and ask if we should walk at 1 pm because of heavy rain. I had read the Environment Canada website posting but hadn't looked outside for a reality check. I took her word for it though and felt a bit down not to start pronto as planned. This disruption soon turns out to be for the best. Within half an hour my muscles are screaming with pain and I weakly ask my husband if he could run me a bath. I slowly head for the tub and try to stay submerged for thirty minutes in warm water with Epsom salts. After I dress and head back to the living room couch (my usual recovery centre) I feel so weak that I can barely put the two throws over my exercise pants.

To avoid feeling useless and the sense that my day is off to a poor start, I decide to do some phoning concerning various household needs. Robert hands me the phone and he also fills up a hot water bottle which he places under my thighs and heats a bean bag in the microwave, which he places under my shoulders, before he leaves for the day. I phone Primus about a name change in the phone book and I call the eye doctor to make an appointment. I read for distraction and drift off to sleep.

By 11:30 I awake, the pain has resided and I eat lunch and prepare to go walking. Ruth probably weighs less than me but she walks just as as slowly and she is wheezing when we go uphill, which concerns me. I hope walking will help her health and improve her breathing and I am happy to be a part of the solution. She's a wonderful conversationalist and is very cheerful and the time goes quickly. At the forty minute mark, my muscles feel very tight and I let her know I will stop in five minutes, so we end at my house, having visited a beautiful park, and several neightbourhood streets. I arrive back home refreshed and my muscles are tingling, which means they have been used, in a good way.

I make a green smoothie of 2 cups of baby spinach leaves, 1 cup of water ,and one half a banana. It's delicious! And I am so pleased that I finally had some get up and go and that my exercise program is still ON TRACK, despite the delays.