Saturday, September 8, 2007

Exercising

The elliptical machine was delivered February 15, 2005. So I've had it about 30 months now. Up until January, 2007 I had missed very few days on it. But the fist 7 months of this year have been pretty tough with dad so I missed a lot. But I started over in early August and have a good record going.

The "basement" is a half-basement since this is a split-level house. So I have it there by the window so I can look out.

Much earlier I had a gym membership. The gym was nearby and inexpensive. It was great as long as I could leave the house. It was a little intimidating because during the day there were a lot of professional lifters there.

Then when I couldn't leave the house I started walking and jogging outside on the driveway which is a big, roughly circular thing. Ten laps is a mile about.

When I started exercising I was pretty out of shape. I could walk a mile but certainly couldn't jog one. That was my first big goal to jog an entire mile without stopping. I like walking and jogging outside. Really nothing like it. But weather is a problem and I can't really afford injuries. I had some ankle injuries and hurt my knees a few times and fell once on some ice. No ice on the elliptical. So right now inside on the machines is better.

I would really like to say "run" but I am not really in the "running" category. I think when I was in the army we had to run 1 mile in 7 minutes and 40 seconds or something like that. That's running. What I do is definitely jogging.

Across the room I have a little TV mounted high and connected to cable. There's a fan and a bookcase and a scale. But my favorite thing is a print of a painting of the Grand Canyon. The painter is Thomas Moran and the title of the painting is Grand Canyon of Arizona (I think). It has a date on it of 1912. I don't think it is particularly valuable and it has some damage evident through the glass. (The image isn't mine but I found it somewhere on the Internet and it was easier to acquire.)

I so enjoy looking at that thing. I imagine I'm there and then I try to see things in the painting that Moran must have seen when he painted it. I'd like to visit the Grand Canyon with Mrs. Flinty sometime and maybe do some hiking. I don't know if I'd really want to ride the donkeys down to the floor or not. I want to go in the off season I think.

Exercising is one of the things I do that really is the difference between being depressed and not. If I can get in an hour or so of exercise every day then everything else rather amazingly falls into place and I can handle any number of other crises.

8 comments:

Lori1955 said...

I admire your self dicipline. I have an exercise area in my house but use it very little anymore. I need to start up again and get that good feeling you always get from exercise.
I love the Grand Canyon. I have been several times but never hiked it or rode the donkeys. I know they have one type of excursion where you hike down and camp at the bottom. Is Mrs. Flinty as adventurous as you are?

Unknown said...

She is pretty adventurous but she does remind me to consider that we are not kids any longer.

On our honeymoon we ended up Hot Springs, AR. We stayed at this old downtown hotel. We started out on a walk around the old promenade route but saw this trail that went up Hot Springs Mountain. So we took it and climbed and climbed and climbed.

And when we got to the top there was Hot springs tower and we climbed even farther.

It was great fun. We started out on a little stroll that turned into a several hours hike.

So she's that adventurous.

Unknown said...

reading your post reminded me that i really do need to start some exercise program. i can't tell you the number of days i just sit, and sit again and then sit some more.

bob and i were talking just earlier this morning that if russ comes home less mobile than before maybe i can leave him and go to another room for a time and get some exercise. all we have is a bike (and weights of the boys which i won't use) but i guess it better than what i'm doing now.

nancy said...

actually the precious post is from me. that's bizarre, bob never posts so i'm not sure what happened. another twilight zone!!!

Unknown said...

I wondered at first and then read the "bob and i were ..." and figured it out.

Exercise helps ward off depression for me.

Lack of sleep or injury are about the only 2 things that keep me from doing something.

I tell you what I used to love was when Mrs. Flinty would come over and we would walk together on the driveway - just walking in circles and talking.

I would put dad in a lawn chair and he would watch us. When we were finished we would all three sit together.

nancy said...

what a lovely image that creates. the 2 of you walking and talking with your dad watching.....

he is SO lucky to have you. i'm glad you found mrs. flinty too. she sounds special as well.

~Betsy said...

I use to get a lot of exercise at the equestrian barn where Nikki rides. I was always helping to put hay in for the winter, muck stalls, etc. These days I am happy when I can find time to get out there to see our horse. My days of stacking hay are over for a while - I honestly miss it.

¸.•*´)ღ¸.•*´Chris said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog! Thought I would pop in for a peek. I like the pics and your style of writing.

Enya is amazing and I'm glad you are a fan. She has a way of bringing peace to one's heart, eh?

Take care,
Chris