Taunting Mother Nature: A Day in the Life Sunday

Mother Nature's a peach when it comes to summer fun but when it comes to women and fitness, she's got an ax to grind. 

​iStockphoto

​iStockphoto

It's not that I don't like a challenge but this road from zero to fit is one I am all too familiar with. You'd think I would have credits in the fitness bank for 10 years of Army early morning PT, 2 separate year long sessions with a personal trainer and the best of intentions.

Not.

The best of intentions in the world can't counter a loaf of crusty Italian bread and a stick a salty butter. It's amazing how many calories a person can eat in a day. Thanks to My Fitness Pal I saw the cold hard truth about I can blow by my entire daily allowance by lunch time without even trying hard.

If I stop exercising for a bit there's no crossing go, no collecting $100 and no benefit of the doubt on my way to easy street. There's only another muscle aching, strength building, personally challenging session of CrossFit where I am confronted with accountability. I love it and I'd choose to do it even if I didn't have to.

But I don't have a choice. I have to exercise regularly. Why? In the battle against the natural aging process, the odds are stacked against me.

But they don't have to be. Why won't Mother Nature just pony up and give us girls this one in return for our child-bearing years? ​She's a woman. She has influence. I sure wished she'd wield it more often.

Being Sick Sucks

I have a bunch of HR topics I could write about today like employee engagement, job-search attitude, credibility, compliance coaching, and buying "likes" but I can't.

I haven't had a chance to consider my message or my delivery because I spent the last week fighting off a strep-mono-pneumonia-influenza-whooping cough-like germ. I was down for the count. I cancelled out of my wine tour 60 minutes before I was to leave the house for my rendezvous with the girls.

I should have seen it coming for weeks and now know my "run it off" approach wasn't the best one to take. There wasn't any need to discourage me from working during my sick time, because it just wasn't happening. The Blackberry held no appeal for me and I couldn't focus long enough to make a difference if it did.

I was bad enough off that the sympathies came out. The kid got her craft on and made me these gifts one of the first nights:

There's always learning in life and here's what I am taking away from the last week:

  • Being sick s***ks
  • I am a much better sick person now than I was in college
  • Health stations in grocery stores on Sunday mornings are useless
  • Everything seems so much better with a sympathetic ear from an LPN with a sweet voice and a lollipop colored uniform

The silver lining? If I could run a 60 minute 5 mi run with pneumonia on a hot Saturday morning, I should be able get that closer to 50 minutes when I am well! I'd like to be lacing up my shoes now but the body is just not up to it - yet. I'll take the rest of the week to catch up from being our last week and wellness at home as I give my body the time it needs to heal.

Stay well!