Back to basics

5:30 a.m. I found myself pulling into the parking lot designated as the meeting point for the first ever Stone Mountain Park Operation Bootcamp meeting. Yesterday I'd been anxious about starting over . . . again . . . but it felt good as I tip toed around the house this morning getting ready to leave. I enjoyed being up before the sun because it brought back so many positive and reinforcing feelings from the 4 months or so when this was my daily routine. I had gotten fatigued walking through a park in the sunshine yesterday and felt daunted, but as I hopped out of my car this morning I felt energized and ready to play. It was a very good day to begin again.

This is the first Stone Mountain camp, so far just 3 recruits and two instructors although I understand we may be expecting 2 more tomorrow. Shaunya and Chester, the instructors, had great energy and helped us all feel very comfortable. Due to our parking spot (our FREE parking spot) being just outside the park itself, there is necessarily a bit of a run in at each end of the workout and I was feeling breathless early on. But if there is ONE valuable lesson I can say I learned more than any other in my first bootcamp, way back when, it's that the breathing will improve, and that I'm highly unlikely to drop dead. I didn't feel panicked at the breathlessness like I used too, I just felt annoyed by it. I'm looking forward to feeling it fall into place.

We did our PT test today. The one mile run felt a lot longer than one mile, it was an out and back course, relatively flat. By the time I saw Chester at the halfway mark I was certain they'd miscalculated. They probably didn't, I just started off a little bit gung ho and paid for it down the way. I was very pleased with my time, 13:39. A bit off the 8:26 I did at my last PT test over a year ago but reasonable for not having run for some time. The second half was tough, I definitely found myself digging into my old box of tricks (just to that stop sign, then you can decide if you'll take a break. Just to the top of that hill, just to that driveway . . . ).

On the other measures I did ok and reinforced that I definitely have retained some of the strength I earned last year, even if I have hidden the muscles away a bit. My other results were as follows:

Pushups in one minute: 20 regular and 15 modified (bent knees)
Situps in one minute: 28
Tricep Dips in one minute: 10 regular and 22 modified (bent knees)
1 Mile Run: 13:39

So there's my first goal, beat all those numbers next time around! The best part of the morning by far was the run back to the car. I was still feeling winded but I earned a little taste of that elusive "stride" that is so addictive and I'm excited for tomorrow!

Finally, one brief note since I mentioned it in earlier posts. After bootcamp today I went to court and had my divorce finalized. It was emotional. It was a relief. It represents, I hope, a new beginning in my relationship with my ex-husband. He's the father of my son and we share parenting time 50/50 so we're involved with each other regardless.