Beyond "There"

During Friday's particularly difficult morning workout, one of my workout buddies let out a huge "Ugh!! I'm there!", meaning she was totally done in. Vicky responded with "Push yourself beyond 'there'!" Since it was my last workout class before surgery (Monday is B.C.'s Family Day, so no class), I pushed myself harder than normal -- definitely "there" and a little beyond. Amazing what the mind can force the body to do! Vicky's words really resonated with me and have come to my mind over and over during the last day.

Yesterday, as I watched Ashcroft Secondary School become a tiny blip in my rear view mirror, it almost felt as if I was leaving on an exotic holiday -- Hawaii, Mexico, Thailand -- take your pick! Unfortunately, the cold, hard fact is that my surgery date is only three days away and I won't be back at school for a minimum of two weeks. For me, the thought of any surgery is accompanied by some anxiety. One would think that the dread and apprehension would be absent since this will be my fourth surgery in little more than a year. However, it always seems difficult for me to totally ban the "what if" thoughts as I'm mentally preparing for the big day. Refusing to get stuck in this negative frame of mind, I have been pushing my mental thoughts beyond "there", and dwelling on the excitement that accompanies the thought that this is my last surgery.

My walk/running one mile per day didn't keep up this week since the thermometer dropped into the -20 degrees C range virtually every day. Call me feeble, but I simply couldn't make myself don runners, toque, and mitts and face the frigid temperatures. Beat the Bulge's food challenge was all about beverages -- 8+ glasses of water each day, and only one caffeinated beverage allowed. Pretty simple for me. The physical challenge was to do squats through the first commercial on each and every commercial break while watching TV. The night I watched "The Biggest Loser" finale, I counted 120 squats -- ouch! My second weigh in brought another 1.6 pounds loss, with another meeting with the scale due on Monday. After expressing disappointment with my lack of weight loss, Kate sent me several gentle reminders that true weight loss takes time, and to not put quite so much merit in what the numbers on the scale are. Here's a good reminder for us all ...

Wanting to make more strides with my running progress before I'm unable to handle impact for a few weeks, I borrowed the use of a treadmill to run this morning. I was "there" several times over, but managed to push myself to complete 5.9 km in 35 minutes -- with a few 30 second walking breaks along the way. To be repeated one last time on Monday ...

No matter what it is you're trying to conquer or master, it IS possible to push beyond "there". I know you can do it!!