Over the weekend, after attending a barbecue with family, I decided to fully commit to starting some type of fitness regime. Before going to the family outing, I had made up in my mind that I wasn’t going to consume any meat since it takes so much longer to digest through our bodies than vegetables do. Once at the gathering, as usual, there were plenty of hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken, both fried and barbecued. I opted for potato salad, coleslaw, salad and fried fish. I know the fried fish wasn’t the best choice, but it was better than the other options and it was quite tasty.
I woke up this morning at 7:30 as I planned to. Checked a few notes on Facebook, then got dressed for my first morning jog in over 10 years. Thankfully, I’m naturally slim, but that doesn’t mean that I’m in shape as I quickly learned. I started out of the apartment at 8:30 with the goal to run around the avenue and down the suburban road. After about 5 minutes of running, I was out of breath. I couldn’t believe myself. I just knew I’d be able to run at least 10 minutes before taking a break to walk, but that wasn’t my reality.
As I ran here’s what happened:
- I came across 2 dead squirrels.
- I startled a Mexican woman who was pushing her baby in a stroller.
- A heavyset woman rolled her eyes at me when I spoke to her as she waited for the bus.
- I lightly flirted with 3 Spanish guys who were in conversation at their truck. I just said hello and walked really slow. One of them caught my eye.
- I notice at least 6 people texting and driving. People are asking for an accident. It’s just not safe.
- I found a jungle gym that I plan to revisit my next go round to do pull ups and other exercises.
- An African woman slapped her toddler in the face at least 3 times because he wouldn’t stop crying. NEWSFLASH: Slaps hurt and make crying worse.
- A man in a gray Oldsmobile caught my eye long enough for him to turn his car around to say hello. I told him that I thought he looked familiar and kept jogging. He wasn’t attractive once I actually saw his full body inside the car.
I’m looking forward to my morning jogs and this was only Day One!