Grateful I am healthy enough to exercise

Thursday Treadmill Treats

Grateful that I am healthy enough to exercise

In this weeks series about gratitude I am writing about being grateful for being healthy.

I have always been a gym nut starting from high school where me and Clara ( my 6 foot black friend) would work out with all the boys. Back then not many women worked out.
This was before the whole exercise crazy, even before Jane Fonda and Olivia Newton John  (Wow, that just dated me didn't it? As some of you are saying who the hell are they)

I took weight lifting in college as a class, I did dance classes, I done yoga, belly dancing, kick boxing, zumba classes.
I bike ride, I've learned to surf for my girls, I did a marathon and a triathlon, I have always been active and worked out.

I get up at 5 am every morning and I am at the gym by 5:30. Most of my friends think I am nuts but that is who I am.
I have a family history of heart disease on both sides and I decided along time ago I wasn't going out like that without a fight.

Even with all that, even with eating right for the most part (Hello, I am Italian and do love pizza)
I recently found out that I have plaque in my heart, are you frigging kidding me, with all that I do?

I eat egg whites every morning, I never eat fast food or fried foods. I eat fresh salads, brown rice and vegetables. I don't smoke anymore what the hell else can I do, eat grass?

But I am grateful I can still exercise even if my body feels older, even if I am stiffer, even if I have plaque in my heart, I refuse to go down without a fight.

So I decided to start doing yoga on a regular basis again,
I use to do yoga 5 days a week and was in the best shape of my life, mentally and physically.

So this week I am on my third day and I feel old as shit.I can't touch my toes anymore, everything is tight and hurts and basically this sucks.

I know how good I use to be and am mad that I am not still there. I know it will come back in time but sometimes I have no patience, I want it now, like most people.

But I continue on past the hurt and the pain because that is what you do. I also added swimming into the mix again one day a week and I suck at that too! I was so out of breathe it sounded like I was 90! I could only do 16 laps and that was pushing it!
I felt like they needed to call 911! Are you kidding me?

When I was training for the triathlon I swam 2 or 3 times a week for 30 to 35 laps no problem.
But again I haven't swam in a while and that is what happens. Still I am grateful that I can swim, that I can walk when so many people can't. I am grateful that I have a mind set to keep going, that I refuse to give up, to quit.

I am grateful for each extra day I get to spend with my girls, my family and my friends because most of my family was gone from heart disease before the age of 60.

I am grateful that maybe I can be a role model to my girls or someone out there reading my blogs, to be healthier, to change their lives at any age, its never to late.

So today my friends remember when you start something it may be hard, it may suck and you may want to give up, but keep fighting, you'll get better. You'll do fine and as long as you have the mindset of gratitude, that you know that you are at least healthy enough to do what so many aren't able to, then it will come.
Never give up...I can...I must...I will...

"Be the change you want to see"
 
"And just when the caterpillar thought his life over...he turned into a beautiful butterfly"

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