Day 2 - Future Me

Twenty minutes. It's a relative amount of time. Whether you're doing something you love, or waiting for the fire department to put out the fire in your house, 20 minutes can range from the blink of an eye to an eternity.

I woke up this morning wondering when I was going to take it... the 20 minutes each day that I have promised myself this year. Should I run up to the gym before my coffee, or wait until I have exhausted all of my morning snuggle time with Lil C. He's 7 now and these days are numbered. I often wonder if he'll still want to snuggle with me when he's 16. I'm pretty sure I know the answer. It's different with girls...Sierra still snuggles with me at 16, and I don't see that coming to an end any time soon.

Eventually, as I sensed our snuggle time coming to an end, so, like clockwork, I called for Daddy to come find us. We yanked the covers over our head and hid, statues. Thick as thieves we are....that boy and I. The tickle monster found us and it was all over....just like that.

Crawled out of bed, Daddy made me breakfast, helped put the last of Christmas back into the attic and then grabbed my sneakers. It's GO TIME.

Drove up to my neighborhood clubhouse gym. No cars. YES! I had the whole place to myself.....NOT.... I was just the only one too lazy to actually WALK up to the clubhouse. Now THAT was funny.

Jumped onto the elliptical for a couple of minutes to get the heart pumping, then joined a man in his late 50s on the treadmills. He was a little guy, but had legs of steel. Right off the bat, he started jogging...and jogging...and jogging. I had to ask him to turn up the country music video channel that he turned on because I am partially deaf in my left ear. Me. The YOUNG one. The one WALKING as the older guy next to me cruises along at 6.5mph...

When he stopped and jumped off without even a cool-down, I asked him how long he'd been running. I was envious of his endurance. I have always blamed my asthma, but I'm sure I could do it if I really really tried. As he was answering me, I glanced over at his treadmill timer and it read 20:00. No joke. Twenty minutes exactly. It was fate. Then, as I listened to him explain how he had been exercising for exactly a year, and how he definitely did not START OUT jogging, it hit me. He's future me... only male... and a little older... and a little shorter. That was all I needed. This is going to be my year. Tomorrow: Shoe Shopping...those dirty dogs are embarrassing.