Saturday, July 16, 2011

Don't Quit - 59 days left

Grueling, sixty five and tears.  What do all of these words have in common?  Each of them can be used to describe today's crossfit workout.

The grueling part of the workout was pretty much the entire thing.  The lady that teaches Saturday's class combines kickboxing and regular crossfit to makeup the workout.  Since I have added Saturday's class to my regimen, I believe it has consistently been the most challenging of the week.  Today's workout had more kicks, lifts and other moves, than I can begin to list.  After the last round of exercises, I laid on the floor for about two minutes to catch my breath.  When I stood up, a mark of sweat outlining my body remained.  I know that sounds gross.  However, it also shows how hard my body worked today.

My proudest moment of the day came when it was time for sit-ups, eighty of them to be exact.  I was teamed with my best workout partner ever, Catherine.  She would run the length of the mat and back.  While she rested, I would then do ten full sit-ups.  This would continue for eight rounds.  Today marked only the third day that I have even attempted a sit-up in more than 20 years.  Yet instead of thinking about it for while and dissecting whether or not I could do it, I just decided that I would do it.

If there ever was a time that I needed a great cheerleader encouraging to make it through, this was it.  And fortunately, Catherine was my answer.  Through the first five rounds when I reached the point that I didn't feel I could do it anymore, Catherine would shout, "Come on Karen!  Only four/three/two more!  You've got this!".  At round six, the instructor told me to drop the sit-up count back to five.  And at the end of round eight, Karen True had completed sixty five sit-ups.  I knew the reason that I had made it was because of having someone like Catherine on my side reminding me I could do it the whole way through.

When I got up off the mat, I was overwhelmed with such a great feeling of accomplishment that I started to cry.  I gave Catherine a hug to thank her for helping me.  I had shocked myself.  I never dreamed six weeks ago I would be able to do sixty five sit-ups at this point.  If I could have done anything afterwards, it would have been to go to a t-shirt designer and have a shirt made that said, "I did sixty five sit-ups today".  Yes, I was that proud of my achievement.

It is truly amazing that after having such a terrible day personally yesterday, today can turn out to be so very fantastic.  After wanting to do nothing but throw in the towel yesterday, today I am renewed and know that I will succeed.  Five weeks into crossfit and I am doing sixty five sit-ups.  How many more will I be able to do at ten weeks and fifteen weeks?  With each new challenge comes a new success.  I am well on my way to a healthy, skinny me.

Romans 12:11-12 (The Message) Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. 

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