Just chit-chatting

Who can believe we have finished 9 weeks today!!!! It really seems like we just started yesterday. Three weeks left and I guess one more dunking and more blood work. Who remembers that we are actually competing against another group? The real competition is within ourselves! Trying to push ourselves just a little bit harder this week, downing one more bottle of water when we're sure it's going to come right back up, passing up that second serving of food, or in my case, second glass of wine.
Other than seeing ourselves become stronger and leaner, the other positive aspect of Healthquest is the camaraderie among us middle-age women. I look forward to chit-chatting at the end of the workout. Yesterday, I believe we even embarrassed Toby Mac.
We girls, we'll talk about anything, and at our age we don't care. We cannot be modest at these workouts. T-shirts scrunch up our back as we do bear crawls, our rear-ends stick up in the air, the grunts and groans are unfeminine, we giggle when we attempt to try something new that our bodies just aren't coordinated enough to do, and other things occur not appropriate to mention in a blog. What wonderful support we have at these workouts (and on the blogs). My family is another source of encouragement and high fives, and as my daughter who visited this week said, "that was intense"! (She just sat and watched).
I still end the sets as one of the the last to finish, but I don't care. That I actually finished the entire set without shortening reps is a success. And maybe a year from now I can finish somewhere in the middle. That I'm jogging for the first time in my life (of course what I call a jog may be called fast walking to Carter) is incredible. My shins still ache so much, but with my visit to a podiatrist, hopefully that will diminish.
Today, after the workout as we were chit-chatting again, Debbie talked about how she recently broke out and cried after someone said an encouraging word to her. It was nice to know someone else still cries after these workouts. Earlier this week I was ready to shed those tears after an intense set and would have if someone looked at me or tried to give me a high five. The first week I cried in the car after each workout, and honestly didn't know if I would continue. But these are tears from intense emotion brought on from workouts we never thought our bodies could do. They're "I thought I'd throw up or pass out, but I finished"!
So, after 9 weeks and still feeling vulnerable and wondering if it will ever get easier, Carter talked about our minds, and how we can't be successful if our mindset is not on track to succeed. I know that in the past I wasn't committed because I reasoned I'll start "tomorrow". Just saying you want to lose weight or improve your health doesn't mean you'll do it with success. You have to have a honest conscious and a determination that it begins "today".
It started for me 9 weeks ago, and in 9 months I should, no, will be one of those success stories. (OK support group, make sure I say this to myself over and over).