Steppin' Up

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Between the monsoon weather in the mid-Atlantic, my new obsession with Lost (which has kept me up to midnight and beyond), school shootings in Virginia, and the recent departure of the head of my department, I've hardly been able to find my creative side. Work is picking up as we get in gear for our busy season and on top of that, I'm ready for Spring but we're barely breaking 50 here.

But in good news, Blogger finally upgraded me to the new version, so that's exciting. Sometimes there is need to find comfort in the little things!

My husband ran in a 10K this weekend and I am very proud of him. I wish I could run 6 miles with the ease that he seemed to. It inspired me to get more active at the gym. No more 20 minutes on the elliptical and I'm outy. It is time to get ready for bikini season! I have two trips planned this summer and need to get my bod in shape. I took an INTRO to Step class at my gym this weekend because I've always been intrigued by the collective coordination of step aerobics participants, and a little bit jealous too. So, I decided to start from the very beginning.

I, and three other brave souls, set up our platforms in front of the large, unforgiving mirror. No actual steps used in this intro class, just a measly 3" platform. And there we were, at the mercy of Harold for 45 minutes. Repetition was the name of the game, here - going over the moves and the terminology with mind-numbing technical precision. In fact, he wouldn't even move on to the next move until someone in our four-person group called out the name to prove to him we were actually paying attention.

The basic step, the straddle, the L-step, around-the-world, and... the pony? Yes, a throw-back to the 1950s, we really did the pony, incorporating the upper body moves and all. For the most part, I could keep up. I always remembered the names of the moves but I never really looked so graceful or even "with it" moving about the platform. And I definitely didn't bring the funk. Often, I wanted to add an extra little step because I felt that overall it wasn't a natural movement even though Harold kept reminding us that we're just walking up and down steps. Not really, Harold. I don't often combine side-kicks, shuffles or cha-cha-chas as I ascend the stairwell to my condo.

I'm eager to try a real class, but I've had to wait 3 days before going back to the gym. I was shocked that my legs were so sore. Thanks Harold, you showed me.