When Does Someday Start?

In the spirit of the new presidency, I took the liberty of Obama-fying myself for posterity. I must say, I look pretty fetching in the form of a color-by-number painting, except that my left eye looks like it's bleeding if you look at it too long. Not sure what's up with that.

Where I don't look so fetching is in the Strictly Strength class offered at my gym. I found this out tonight when I agreed to move closer up front in the class with Maria and there, in front of Buddha and everyone, I had to watch myself pant and strain for sixty minutes straight in front of the endless mirrors enveloping the room. In my oversized Green Lake Triathlon t-shirt and cropped track pants, I couldn't have looked more on the edge of death if I tried. Really, I'm surprised the instructor didn't call for an ambulance to take me away.

I had time to kill before the class tonight so I did forty minutes on the treadmill at an incline. Big mistake. Big. Balancing for long periods of time on one leg while holding a flying pose is hard no matter what, but it's doubly hard when your leg is already beat from the treadmill. Why did I think I was man enough to complete two workouts in a row? Sometimes I'm completely delusional. Next time I'll kill time in front of the club TV.

The class was a seemingly endless series of core-based movements that seriously challenged my body and self-esteem. It's hard to feel good about yourself when you can't stay upright for more than a few seconds at a time while holding a medicine ball and twisting left, then right while standing on one foot. My muscles burned and my ego deflated like an exercise ball after stabbing it with a scissors, which is exactly what I was thinking of doing the entire time I had to balance on the ball while holding my body in a bridge shape. My particular bridge took on the shape of a 'U' more than of a straight bridge, truth be told. In order to survive I spent a good chunk of the class reminding myself that, if I keep it up, someday I will laugh about how hopeless I seemed when I first started. Someday can't start soon enough.