Cold!

New form of Exercise:

Running to the mailbox with no shoes in ten degree weather and enough wind to alter the rotation of the Earth. Oh, also, no jacket. You would think I'd have learned by now.

My roommate, Michael, says that the only way he would be caught running is if a giant bear were chasing him. Do you think we could train one to chase but never attack? That would be motivation.

Swimming!

I have taken up swimming in the past few months. I can swim all four strokes, and can almost do a flip turn without getting dizzy and gasping for air as soon as my face meets air, and although I have tried to dive in from the starting block, I have only managed a really painful belly flop.

So here are some notes on swimming:
- No sweating involved (less laundry)
- Its non-impact - the girls aren't all over the place like they would be while jogging (not that I would know...)
- You get to wear a swimming hat and goggles
- Since your head is underwater mostly, you don't have to listen to anyone else breathe heavily as they chug away on the elliptical
- Pretending you are a dolphin is perfectly acceptable, including the sound effects. In your head of course.
- The gym has free showers. Yes, they are grungy. Yes you have to face the other half naked women in the locker room. But, the shower comes free with the cost of the swimming, and the water is always hot. That mean on mornings like today, when you wake up late and the other 3 people in your house have already taken showers and there is no hot water left, you can go to the gym and shower. Also, you don't have to clean them.
- My favorite, you can swim faster when you have webbed toes

For some motivation, I found this sweet website recently...
http://www.swimplan.com/

I think its fun. Now, if only I could remember not to inhale while underwater.

So, all this began when my physical therapist wrote "Cori is a pleasant but not particularly fit 20 year old female" on the doctors notes (that I probably wasn't supposed to read... oops!). I spent most of the remaining day upset because I am "Not particularly fit"- something I already knew, but had never put into words. I just figured I was just squishy...

Wait, I guess it really began when my normal doctor told me that I really needed an exercise program to supplement my drugs so that when I had no more drugs, I would still be able to control my emotions.

Well, actually, it really began when I gained 20 pounds since graduating high school and no longer fit in any of my old clothes, even if I did the pants dance!

Anyhow, I have now started this frenzy of exercise (well, frenzy in the most vague use of the term) in order to fit into my old pants.

Since I have heard from many of you family members about the desire to be in shape, I thought maybe I could make something where we could all share our experiences. And, I find that if I have some healthy competition, it helps me get out there and do it. And since I can't seem to drag Mike out to exercise with me, he is not much competition (he does have me beat in the thumb muscle arena... lots of practice with game controllers). So I need to look elsewhere.

Anyhow, this morning I sat on my exercise ball and bounced up and down at my desk while typing it. And I am going to clean my room, that takes a lot of movement, right?

Let me know if you find anything useful on the topic of exercise and we can post it... I will do the same. Here we go....