Friday, June 3, 2011

How could I forget?

I totally forgot to tell you all about the most important and exciting thing that happened on my trip!

First I must back up and tell you all a brief story of something that happened a few months ago.  Kristy and I were standing in our kitchen, and I think we were talking about yoga.  It makes more sense for the story if we were, so if I'm taking a few liberties, I apologize.  Anyway, we were probably talking about yoga, and I was probably saying something to the effect of "I would love yoga, but I'm not flexible or strong, so I can't do anything."  Kristy, the kind* and encouraging person that she is, tried to tell me it's okay.  Yoga is for everyone.  So I bent over, reaching for my toes, to show her how inflexible I really was.  My fingertips reached just passed my knee caps.  She started laughing, but she wasn't laughing at me.  She thought she was laughing with me.  She thought I was joking.

When I joined my gym, I had one free session with a personal trainer.  Among other fitness tests, she had me do that thing where you sit on the floor with your legs straight out, feet flat against a box, and lean forward to push a measuring thing as for as you can.  Do you remember that flexibility test?  Anyway.  I was in the 97% for my age group.  That's the bad end of the scale.

Well, I've been doing yoga and trying to stretch a little bit every day.  I've definitely seen improvement over the past few months, but I still haven't had the joy of touching my toes while bent in half.

So, this past Saturday, we hiked up Whiteside Mountain, right?  Walking, walking, walking.  Limbering up, really.  When we got to the bottom of the mountain, I started to stretch, like you do.  I bent over and reached forward.  I could almost clasp my ankles.  Kristy saw this and encouraged me to try a little harder.  Then she gently pushed on my back, and it was just the mildest of assistance, but it did the trick!  I touched my toes!!  I was so happy, I started jumping around.  I did it again, this time without any help.  It was so exciting!  I could only hold it for about 3 seconds, but it was awesome.  It's like the first time I ran a mile without stopping.  It's just something I felt like everyone else could do except me.

This past weekend was so fun and a little victorious for me.  I'm excited for this coming weekend, because who knows what other small victories lie ahead for me?

*I think "Kristy, the Kind" shall be Kristy's new name.

What was your first small victory on your road to good health?

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