Apprently I Look Like A Football Player

Y'all, I am so upset! I had written a really long and glorious post about my second day at D1 and ghetto mail deleted it. We use Gmail rather than Outlook at work because it's cheaper and our company is all about the cheap. I refer to it as ghetto mail because it is in fact, ghetto. So, now, I have to try and replicate what was a super long post that I had been writing periodically throughout the day. I can't even remember how I had started it; so, instead, I will start how I was ending it because that's where my train of thought was when ghetto mail deleted my post.

Moving on, Kimberly asked in one of her comments, "What does D1 stand for?" I don't really know the answer, but I think Division One, as in NCAA Division One; a lot of Pro and collegiate athletes train at D1 facilities. D1 is, after all, the place for the athlete - please don't laugh when you think of me going somewhere that is the place for the athlete. OK, just kidding you can laugh because I do. The #1 rule is "Athletes Only" which makes me laugh every time I look at it. The facility in Huntsville is owned by Philip Rivers and Condredge Holloway.

Tuesday I was a little sore, but not too bad, which is exactly what I told the trainer when she asked me on Tuesday night. Then she said we were going to work on legs and I wanted to flee the premises, but alas, I stuck around for some hard work.

I walked around the field before class got started just to loosen up my legs since they were a little sore, from the running on Monday I guess, and passed by a group of maybe four kids practicing football drills with one of the instructors. I was wearing a NY Giants T-shirt and a bandana around my head. You may know that my signature piece of clothing for working out is the bandana. This one kid who had been talking each time I passed looks at me and say, "Hey, do you play football?" I said, "Me?” and probably had a look of bewilderment on my face. He shakes his head yes and I said, “No, why?" To which he replies, “Well you have that thing on your head," and he rubs his head indicating a bandana. I said, "Oh, well, I wear this to keep the sweat off of my face, you know what I mean?" and gave him a little pat on the back. He said, "Yeah, I know what you mean." and that the extent of our conversation. I mean I know I’m as slow as an offensive lineman but do I look like one too?

The class got started soon after my conversation with the boy, We started off with two laps of jogging around the field, then around the field again extending one leg in the air after each step, then walking backwards and going down on hands with one leg extended in the air backwards (this is probably a terrible description) and then jogging again. I’m pretty sure I may have missed the last lap of jogging because I was so slow with the other laps. My dad has always said Parkers are slow and that has never been more evident that this week!

We did circuit training Tuesday night, rotating between dips with the large round weights, jump rope, squats with dumbbells and ab work with the weight balls. Then after that we went outside and ran sprints against a partner - I partnered up with some older women because everyone else was faster than me. Then we headed back inside for another round at the stations and then back outside for more sprints, lunges, and running sideways, which I like to call galloping, then back inside for a final run through the stations. It was a lot of work, but the hour went by quickly. Unlike Monday night, I did not feel like I could go for another 30 minutes. In fact, the trainer asked me a couple of times if I was okay. I’m hoping this was because my face is known to get scarlet red when I get hot/workout, etc.  rather than I looked like I was going to kill over. I was thankful that the hour was up and that I could go home and soak in a hot bath of Epsom salts, after which I laid on the couch in a fetal position for the rest of the evening. I was also concerned I might have shin splints on Wednesday as my shins were smarting and I am prone to getting them when I run. Thankfully the shin split fairly passed me over this time around.

I’m also sad to say, that my cheering section was absent on Tuesday night – no man on the sideline saying, “looking good out there.” Maybe he will be back on Thursday.

I was pretty stiff Wednesday morning when I got up, but not as stiff as I was, for example, when I worked out with the personal trainer at Riviera when I first joined there. That guy put me through some brutal weights and way too heavy if you ask me. I’m not going to kill myself the first week or so and I used only small weights (10 pound for the dips and five pound dumbbells for the squats). When I took a hot shower, it helped loosen up my muscles, but the longer I sat at my computer, the stiffer I got throughout the day.

I took Wednesday night off thanks to church services; but will be back at it again on Thursday evening. As torturous and grueling as these workouts are for a gal like me, I have really enjoyed it and after the month is up, if I can afford it, I will probably keep going. I don’t know how much the regular membership is; the Groupon said it was $180 a month (that was the value I should say) but I have a hard time believing that is the regular monthly price. If it is, then there are some really rich folks going there and I need to see about persuading one of the dudes to marry me! I also discovered last night there is a girl that works where I do that is in the class and I’m not being mean, but I really don’t foresee her salary being able to afford $180 a month. So, I’m anxious to find out what the real price is and am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to afford it because I have a feeling this training is really going to do me some good and I would like to keep it up.