A blessing and a curse

This week in my walking/jogging class, I have at times been both thankful and sad that I am one of two "elders" in the class. The other is a 60+ something amazing lady who doesn't look a day over 50 and is on her 2nd knee replacement since she wore the first one out too quickly! I only hope I am in half as good of shape when I get to that age... Anyway, since I conveniently broke my toe the week before the class started, I am only allowed to walk, not jog. At first I was sad about this.

Two years ago, after 30 years of lethargy, I started "running" 5k's. The first one I did to support my friend Christy whom I had been walking with. We did the Paradise "Trout and Berry 5K" as practice for the "Top of Utah" 5k which she had signed up for. Another friend of ours, a little younger than us, decided to come along too. Rather than just walk it, she decided she'd run to see what time she could do it in. I said to myself, "If Renee' can do it, I can too!" The whistle blew and we both took off. I managed to stay behind (okay, I'll be honest: WELL behind!) her for probably the first half of the race, but after that my body declared war and it was all I could do to stumble through the remainder of the race. In my defense, there WAS a gigantic hill that some devious-minded person put at the end of the course. Anyway, I finished the race, and I wasn't even last.

What I had failed to remember, as I trailed in Renee's dust, is that she had run the Top of Utah Marathon the year before. I was very proud of myself for rising to the challenge, and for the rest of that summer, after I was able to walk again, I entered several more, improving my time a tiny bit each race. Last year I had plans to do even more, but then I began the fun journey with Meniere's and the vertigo problems. Needless to say, I didn't do ANYTHING last summer.

But back to the story... I had signed up for my class so that I could once again get in shape and start running this coming summer. Since I can only walk (although I am speed-walking, so it's still definitely a workout), I have to admit that I feel a little bit like a slacker as I watch all the others in the class run past me.

However, this past Thursday, the instructor decided to kick it up a notch by alternating 2 laps of running with 1 lap of doing lunges. I decided that the toe could probably withstand the lunges, so after walking my first 2, I joined in and did 1/2 lap of lunges. OH. MY. WORD. I have never felt such pain in all of my life. It was at that moment that I decided that aging was a GOOD thing, and if I couldn't use it as an excuse for NEVER doing another lunge again, what point is there?!!!!

As I sit here today, my thighs feel like they may never recover. The 4-month old kitten jumping onto my lap elicits tears of pain, and it is almost impossible to walk up or down stairs. With age also comes wisdom: I am so glad I stopped when I did or I would probably be wheelchair bound now!