Exercise...why?

I have this crazy idea in my head that I am going to lose five pounds and get in better shape, at least that's what my brain has decided.  My body on the other hand enjoys sitting on the couch eating a variety of chocolate products.  I've been running three times a week.  Actually, I don't know if I would call it running.  Fast walking while wheezing and dry heaving would be more realistic.  Anyway, I haven't noticed much of a difference on the scale.  (could be that when I'm not 'running' I'm on the couch partaking of the chocolate goodness.)

One of my running hindrances is an injury.  A couple of months ago I tore my hamstring and it just won't get better, even when I try to placate it with chocolate.  I hurt it doing yoga, something that is supposed to prevent an injury like that.  I was in the middle of class, teaching of course, and tried to go into a really challenging pose, that I knew I couldn't do.  Apparently I thought the audience would somehow enable me to do said pose, they didn't.  "POP" went the hamstring.  I'm pretty proud of myself for not bawling hysterically  (I saved it for the stall in the woman's bathroom) and finishing out the class (we laid on our mats in corpse pose for fifteen minutes).  Anyone else ever dealt with something like this?  How did you let it heal and work out at the same time?

Needless to say, my motivation is somewhat lacking, even if I am watching Regis and Kelly while stomping away on the treadmill (have you seen that woman's arms?!?  Double dog dang!)  So I thought I'd get my kids involved to help out.  Sounds like a good idea right?  We decided that we'd go hiking up at Round Valley, a beautiful regional park a few miles from our house.















Here we are in the car, at the start of our first co-workout together.  Notice the enthusiasm, the happy faces, everyone looks ready to roll.  (and I am rethinking the teeth-together grin, maybe even a wax or two before my next close-up)  The park is less than ten miles from our house.  It took us almost an hour to actually get there.  If you ask the kids they'll say it's because I got lost.  I contend that I was merely taking the scenic route.















After touring the back roads of Brentwood,  we finally made it to Round Valley.  The kids insisted we have another photo op. Wisely I chose to stay out of this one.  If you look closely you'll see the strap across Laurie's chest.  Bry and I tried to convince Lauren to carry a camelpack, but she insisted on carrying her Indiana Jones bag.  I told her that it was, in actuality, a purse and not a real Indiana Jones bag.  For those of you who know my Laurie-girl you can imagine how well THAT went.
Things were going well, we were having fun,...until our first hill.  The second hill was even more miserable than the first.  Lauren spent the rest of our uphill ascents telling me, bry, the coyotes, and anyone within a mile radius, just how miserable she was and how much she hated hiking.  Bry didn't complain.  No, he had us stopping every five minutes to take a 'break.'

This is one of our many, many pit stops (and there were a lot of them).  Bry, as smurf-like as ever, is still smiling away, (probably because he knew we were only five minutes from another break.)  Lauren on the other hand paused her complaining long enough for me to take this picture.  That's her 'I'm in hell' smile.  Do you see the notebook in her hand?  (just one of the many unusual things she pulled out of her 'bag'.)  She was composing a hard copy list of her complaints.  So, just in case I wasn't listening to her, I could read about it later.  Great.

In spite of the complaints, plethora of stops, and general slow pace, we finished our hike in just under two hours.  Good times.  We haven't had a group workout since.