I am a Sea Monster.

So exercise has been difficult since I got back from Disney. Last Friday Dan and I went for a 40 minute walk and then on Saturday we went for an hour walk. But that's all she wrote, folks.

Sunday there was just too much going on in prep for the workshop. Monday I was having a very hard personal day and I was also very busy with Blackbird stuff. I have been trying to wake up at 6:15 now to work out in the morning, but have discovered every morning that it is A. Too Dark for me to want to get up and B. Too cold for me to want to get up. So that killed exercise on Tuesday for me and this morning, too.

I need to figure something out that works for me, folks. It needs to work within my schedule and it needs to work with the cold early morning hours AND it needs to work with the eventual reherasals I'll be having three nights a week. So here is what I'm going to try...

On Mondays and Wednesdays I have the morning off from work. So sometime between 9am and 12pm I need to muster up the courage to go outside when it's cold and walk for 30 minutes.

On Saturdays and Sundays there is plenty of time when I am not busy - but would rather be curled up on the couch doing nothing. I can find time in between weekend craziness to walk for 30 minutes, especially since Dan is willing to go with me on the weekends.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work a full day - and starting in Dec. I will have rehearsal every Tuesday night. I also have been going to Weight Watchers on Thursdays after work. So on these days I need to wake up early and lift weights in the house. It will be less chilly than the early AM jaunt outside and it will be lighter in the house too. So there.

And finally - on Fridays I can just stick with what I'm doing now! Dan and I have made quite a lovely habit of walking to Hollywood Video and back every Friday night. It takes 20 minutes each way (and we keep the pace up by power walking) plus it helps us save money on the weekends!

Okay. I like this plan. It varies what I'm doing during the weekdays, but it does so in order to work with my schedule. I am normally the kind of person that likes to have the same plan for every day, but clearly life is busy and I can't have everything I want all the time.

And now - onto the title of this blog. To keep discipline in my classroom, my students can "earn" minutes for the playground (which I can constantly threaten to take away if they are being bad). Wednesday's class had a Halloween theme and they wanted to take it with them on the playground too. So they deemed me the "sea monster." The blue area of the playground floor was my swamp and the playground was the boat. And if they got off the boat into the swamp, then I could chase them. At first I was hesitant to be the monster, mostly because I haven't done a lot of running since last fall (when I taught the sports and rec class) and I could barely keep up with the kids then. But they wanted me to be the monster (and I wanted to do it too), so I agreed to play along with the thought that I could always tag a kid and make them the monster when I got tired. So I started to run all around the playground, chasing kids and tickling them. The kids got a huge kick out of it, they would all jump down and taunt me and then run away screaming as I would roar and give chase. And, to my surprise, for the full fifteen minutes I didn't get winded! I ran all up and down the playground, screaming, jumping, picking up kids and throwing them in the air...and it felt really good! I was a little sweaty by the end of it, but I could breathe easily and I probably could have played a little longer!

And so I say this. Even when I have a hard week of exercise or a hard week of eating, I have lost almost 30 pounds and I FEEL HEALTHIER. My body is lighter and my muscles are starting to take shape. The only cravings I get now are for big bowls of vegetables, a honey crisp apple, or maybe a baked potato. I am walking at a faster pace and I am less hungry through out the day. By no means have I perfected my diet and I know I will have more slip ups as I continue forward, but I am past the starting point now and well into the journey. And things are looking different for me. I like that.