Just Another Day In Small Town, USA

Yesterday afternoon. I'm sweating it out to a P90-X video. The doorbell rings. 

[As I general rule, my hackles go up when the doorbell rings. I don't know why. Maybe it's an instinctive "fight or flight" response or perhaps I've conditioned myself to respond with my, "I wasn't expecting a guest therefore it's a mass murderer" reaction. Anywhoo...]

A large portion of our front door is glass, so I peeked my head around the corner. I didn't see anyone standing there so I assumed the UPS guy had dropped something off. I went back to Tony Horton and my video. 

♫ Ding-Dong. ♫

Huh. Not the UPS guy. I peek again and see the shadow of a man waiting patiently by the door. I resolve to go shoo the mass murderer away. 

I open the door and am surprised to find David standing there. David is a brilliant writer/photographer in our area, an older gentleman who I probably run into once every six months, at which times we'll chat for maybe 5-10 minutes, max.

"Hey Dena," he said, as if we'd just met yesterday. He pulled out a pen and small notebook. "What did you tell me was the name of your web designer?"

I vaguely remembered discussing my website with David the last time we'd met. Six months ago. 

"Oh, uh, Melody Watson," I said. "At melodywatson.com."

"Mel-ohh-dee" he said, writing it down. "Got it." He turned to go, then seemed to realize the situation maybe called for a bit more. "You doin' okay?" he asked. 

"Yeah, great," I said. "Just exercising, getting ready for a big race. You?"

"Doing good, doing good. Well, nice seeing you." 

And with that, he turned and walked down the porch steps and was gone. 

Later that night I described the encounter to Blair, who laughed and said, "That's classic Madison."

Yes, it is. And a great reminder of why I love living in this quirky little town. 

Is P90X Right For Me?

I don't know if I've ever shard my P90X obsession with the group. It all started this past summer when I saw an infomercial of people drenched in sweat doing pull-ups, push-ups, and ab work so hard it had them crying out for their mama's. It didn't hurt that all of the people offering testimonials were totally ripped. And it also didn't hurt that at the time I was watching the infomercial and contemplating ordering the DVD's, I was in the best shape of my life as I trained for Chicago. The idea of pushing the envelope even further was appealing. 

I didn't order the program though, because I didn't have the time to add any new elements to my workout. I was on a tightly regimented training schedule to get me my Boston qualifying time. Now, however, I may actually have time to devote to a program like this.

The problem is I've lost some (a lot) of my mojo. I'm still running and biking but I've cut way back from summer training. And frankly, I've developed a case of fear and laziness. This program looks hard. It looks like it will hurt. Which--I have to remind myself--is what appealed to me in the first place.

My friend Tamara loaned me her P90X DVD's this week so I can try a couple workouts and see if they're anything I think I might even remotely be able to do on my own. I picked the workouts up from her yesterday and am staring at them right now, as they sit on the corner of my desk. I'm literally afraid to slide one into the DVD.  I just think I'm not going to be able to hang with even half of the stuff asked of me. I'm reminding myself the point of these DVDs are to GET strong, not to start strong. 

So once I get my courage up, I should have a few interesting, "OMG, I can't move, call 911" posts to share with all of you. 

Wish me luck.