January 29, 2020

January 29, 2020

                I wasn’t sure I’d be capable of going back today. My hands swelled up shortly after I got home yesterday. It kind of freaked me out so, of course, I Googled “hands swelled up after exercise.” Apparently, it’s common, especially for someone who isn’t used to exercise. More warm up time and arm movements should help prevent it. Okay.

                Last night was rough. I’d taken a couple Ibuprofen and had a warm rice sock on my neck. It was my legs that ached though. From the knees down. And my wrists. Oh, and my elbows. After tossing and turning for an hour, I finally grabbed some ice packs for my legs. I laid them on my shins. After a minute, I moved them to my knees. Then my ankles. I rotated them around until they were warm and I was finally able to get some sleep.

                When I woke up this morning and went to put my feet on the floor, it all came rushing back to me. I’d been run over by a semi-truck. Or no, I’d worked out for the first time in literal decades. And I was going back.

                I met Kayla there. This time Jacob came too. I headed straight to the trusty treadmill. I think I’ll stick to this for a while and see how it goes. I don’t want to give myself a heart attack. I got my earbuds in and quickly sped up to a brisk walk. My heart rate went up quickly too. I still don’t know what it should be and I don’t want to risk my life trying to get healthy and save my life. I passed the 15-minute mark, which was where I stopped yesterday.

                I could see Kayla going all out on her elliptical. I looked around for Jacob. Turning my head caused my earbuds to tug on my phone which had been sitting on the little phone shelf on the treadmill. It came flying off on to the conveyor belt I was walking on, bouncing with every step. I couldn’t just let go and lean down and grab it. I’d end up on my face.

                I tried to figure out which button to push without causing too much danger to my well-being as the phone flipped at flopped around like a fish at my feet. I finally got the belt stopped. I stepped off the machine with my wobbly legs and picked up the phone. I didn’t dare look around. I knew every person in the building was looking and laughing at me; the idiot who couldn’t manage to use a phone and treadmill at the same time.

                I got the earbuds reinserted and climbed back on. I lost all my data because instead of pausing the machine, I stopped it. I got everything going again, and my face again became flushed from exertion instead of embarrassment. Until about three minutes later when I did the same exact thing.

                I got my fish-flopping-phone retrieved and decided I’d had enough. I looked up and saw that not one person was looking or laughing at me, or even gave one whit about what I was doing. I wobbled over to find Jake and Kayla and told them what happened. We laughed and laughed.

                They showed me how to do a few upper body machines and we took turns doing reps. I decided to try a regular massage chair instead of the hydro version. By the time I got it adjusted to what felt just right, my time was up. But I’ll know the settings for when I go back tomorrow.