Wandering in Wonderland

Might as well continue with the "Alice" metaphor, I definitely feel like I'm in uncharted territory. So, I went to the Piedmont workout yesterday. Wow. I was humbled. Bigtime, especially after my post run cockiness on Friday. First: I was right, the sun SUCKS! I hated being in the heat and being SO exposed. Second: Dry grass is SO MUCH WORSE to lay in than wet grass. I know that probably sounds counterintuitive, and it may be a difference in the grass itself between Candler and Piedmont, but it was dry and hard and prickly and itchy where Candler's grass is cool and soft and lush. I was SO itchy by the end of the workout. In fact, even after showering my lotion apparently reacted with the grass, or something on the grass and gave me an itchy rash everywhere that had touched the ground, luckily it faded pretty quickly but I have to say I think I'll happily be a Candler Park snob from here on out!

And let me just say, I guess its a good thing that no one told us they were springing a video cameraman on this workout until we crested the hill during our moving warmup to find him all set up. UGH. And then the types of drills we were doing involved moving back and forth between two lines of cones and doing something at the forward line that invariably involved me sticking my ass in the air and "shaking it all about". Because I was, as always, the slowest I was off kilter so that I often felt like I was the ONLY person still on the front line while everyone else was behind me enjoying the view. Not to mention all the people strolling through the park who stopped to watch. Really, it pretty much encapsulated why I have always avoided working out in public.

OK, whining complete now. And let me just say that I know I was terribly self absorbed and that I am rational enough to realize that probably very few people were staring at me, if any, and certainly probably none of them were laughing at me and I know I can be edited out of the video clips so no harm there. And I am proud of myself for not being intimidated to the point of fleeing.

On a serious note, the format of the workout was different than what we do in Candler, so I missed the rythym I feel like I have there. And the instructors were strange (in that their style was different) and a little scary (though really friendly too). I REALLY appreciated the fact that Instructor Tim was kind enough to be there with me. His presence by my side through the entire workout really made a difference, despite all the whining above.

So, while I was gung ho about the Candler Park 5K after Friday, after Saturday I was nervous again thinking of the whole "Sun factor". So, for the moment I'm still officially undecided. The race is scheduled to start at 9 am. If only they'd do it at 6, or even at 7 or 8 I'd be all over it! It would be pretty awesome to get the t-shirt though. I'm such a sucker for t-shirts. That 5K I ran/walked in highschool had a glow in the dark t-shirt (it had a halloween theme) which was my entire motivation.

Speaking of t-shirts, 5 days till I earn my bootcamp shirt! I'm thinking I'll wear it under my clothes every day then I can strip like Superman whenever anyone needs someone to kick ass and take names! What I've done at bootcamp thus far is just as wild as if I had leaped over a building in a single bound, so I might as well accept my new status!