You Haven't Come This Far To Fall Off The Earth

First week by the numbers:

Number of workouts: 11 (not including today)

Number of chicken breasts, consumed in halves: 4

Number of cups of water: 60ish

Number of times I listened to the song "Tik Tok" in one workout: 2

Number of times I cordially invited the stairmill to shampoo my crotch: 128

Number of pounds lost: 6.8

***

Last Friday, I did a circuit workout with one of our mentors, Teresa. We started on the treadmills doing part of an RPE exercise we were given. I had just started when the lady on the treadmill next to me asked what I was a part of [since I was obviously with a group]. I said that we had just started our Challenge.

And she replied: "Good for you. After all, you're worth it."

Damn straight, I thought. I am worth it.

There's that point in a workout when the sweat first drops completely off your face and onto whatever piece of equipment you're working in, or onto the floor. This moment is my favorite part of the workout, because it reminds me that I'm working hard, that I'm burning calories, that I have to keep going.

The part that is the hardest is the one where you feel like you're dying. You know you can push it, but it gets hard to. So I always tell myself: "Remember--you're not supposed to die. But at least part of the time, you're supposed to feel like you're dying."

But there's always someone to give a push--one of my fabulous team members or one of the trainers. Or one of the mentors, like Blair: when faced with running the track after doing a set of stairs, she took my hand and said "Let's go." And the whole way around, she held on and pulled and told me I was almost there. And then I made it.

***

The Boy has informed me that listening to music while you exercise increases your endurance by 15%. So I made a playlist of songs that had a decent backbeat, songs that I know all the words to and love. "Idioteque" by Radiohead. "Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley. "Sugar Sugar" by Baby Bash. Etc.

But the last song on the playlist is different--slower, with no strong beat. A new song off an album I got for Christmas. The perfect motivation for that last push:

I listened to the playlist the other night as I did a bike / stairmill RPE workout. As I mentioned before, the stairmill is my Number One Nemesis. But I am one of the more obstinate people I know, and I'm determined to defeat it.

So, I struggled and fought and kept. stepping. up. until I was done. And as I hit the "STOP" button on the control panel, it was toward the end of the song.

I stopped and gasped for breath and bent my back to crack it out, and there were the words: "Just keep your head above."

Couldn't have timed it any better.