Spring in February

 We're having a lovely early spring. Most of the garden looks pretty rough but there are some pretty spots. Here is the Lady Clare camellia we planted this fall. It is also putting out new growth. Very promising.

At week 6 of the fitness program I've lost 13.6 lbs. and am still putting ice on my knees. I'm meeting the group tomorrow afternoon for a workout at Waterfront Park under the Ravenel Bridge over in Mount Pleasant and Duncan is going to the Sierra Club's Oyster Roast where the menu is oysters, hotdogs, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. He looks forward to this all year.

The Oldies, Sweating

Duncan and I are doing this 12-week kamikaze fitness program over at MUSC and it's about to kill us.

I've never seen it, but there's a TV show called "The Biggest Loser." Yes, well, this is based loosely on that. We are on a "team." We have a "trainer," Ryan. We have the run of the health center at the Medical University.

 The Cardio Room at the Harper Center -- Sunday afternoons are a good time to go, most people are taking their day of rest. Treadmills, Ellipticals, Stair machine, and Bikes -- all have individual TV monitors so you can plug in your earphones or ipod. Watching Jeopardy definitely makes this time go by faster.

We are supposed to workout with our team Monday and Wednesday nights, do something on our own every other day of the week, and on Thursday, all the teams come together for a "weigh-in" and then stick around for a big class that features others' wild success stories and a nutritionist urging us away from processed food.

So, our weeks have become working, going to the gym, thinking of things to eat, fixing things to eat, packing things to eat to take with us because WE ARE NEVER HOME and when we are, we are exhausted and have piles of sweaty, smelly laundry to do. We are at the end of week 3 and Duncan has lost 10 pounds and I have lost 7.5.

The pool. Who thought I would like water aerobics. But it's better than jogging and "running stairs" - which when I do it, is "trudging stairs." My knees hurt, I have taken to icing them when I get home, and it's just easier to work hard in the water than is on land. The first time we did a water aerobics class on a Saturday morning, we were in bed by 8:00 PM that night.

When we work out with our team, it's a combination of laps around the track, working against the resistance of these stretchy bands for arm strength, walking up and down 4 flights of stairs multiple times, and doing a few yoga moves I've never been good at - The Dancer, where you reach back and grab your foot and bend  forward while you lift your leg back and your other arm forward - and The Plank, which is down on the floor like you're going to do a push-up but your forearms are down and your weight is divided between your toes and your forearms. Do that for a minute. This is supposed to be the new great thing for your 'abs" - now thought to be way better than old-fashioned sit-ups or crunches. What good fun we all have together.

Here is Duncan catching his breath on the evil stairs. I just flat-out won't do them anymore. I am beginning to trust this skinny, young, trainer just a bit because he is thinking of things I can do to strengthen the muscles around my knees rather than to just keep pounding on them. If I am going to exercise regularly, I am going to have to do it around these knees. I'll probably never be a runner.

We are heading into week 4. It has not gotten easier. It is hard to find time for all of it. Stay tuned. This was our Christmas present to each other! How crazy is that? The idea is to stop our descent into our retirement years as fat, tired, old people. Apparently, to feel good, you have to sweat. So, who said life is fair.