Walk, walk, walk

It's now been 2 months since I hurt my knee and I'm finally feeling okay enough to start back into a more regular exercise program. 

Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time since before I went to Italy.  Hello Gym, we haven't spoken in awhile.  I don't know if you remember me or not.  I walked in and started on the stationary bike.  And that was when the voices in my head started talking.  Are they (the other people in the gym) wondering why I'm not going very fast?  Or very long?  I wish I had a big sign on my shirt that said I'm recovering from an injury.  When in truth, I'll bet they could have cared less what I was doing.  But those voices can be hard to shut up.

I finished up 15 minutes on the bike and moved to the treadmill.  My old friend.  I started off at a not super fast, but not slow pace and a tiny incline.  I did take a moment to realize I did come a long way last year in my running journey.  But then the voices started in again - you aren't even sweating.  You aren't working that hard.  So I ratcheted the speed up a little.  Not too long after that I started feeling some pain in my knee.  Was it from months of no activity, or was it something else?  I sided with months of no activity at first, but then it became clear it was that I was walking too fast.  Really, too fast?  Dear Emily, you need to take baby steps.  You'll get back to full strength.  But right now, baby steps.  Love, Your Knee  So the pace came down as did the incline.  But I finished a mile (pushing the voices to the side).

Back a long time ago, when I was still living in Houston and just starting to walk 5Ks, I did not belong to a gym.  I can't remember if my company had one or not at the time (they did, then it closed for awhile and if it reopened I probably didn't go sign up for it - it's all a bit hazy) and I'm thinking my apartment complex had a super ghetto gym.  In any case, no gym!  So what was a girl to do?  Especially a girl who was super out of shape, but wanted to start training to walk a 10K?  That was when I discovered Leslie Sansone and her Walk at Home program.  Walking in the comfort of your own home.  With no one looking at you.  For whatever reason Leslie popped back into my head the other day as a way for me to start walking again!  I looked for my DVD but could not find it anywhere.  So tonight on my way home, I stopped off at Target and bought her latest version.  Which meant tonight I could walk a mile in my own home and yes, I walked 1 mile.  (Alas, I figured out after I got home that she is on Comcast On Demand, but at least now I have my own copy.)

So for those counting at home, that is a mile a day for the past 2 days.  Not much of a start, but sometimes it is taking that first step.

Apparently since surgery is still on the table it is weighing on my mind as last night I dreamed I did have the surgery, with George Clooney as my doctor.  Oh yeah! :)