I'm 30!

Monday was my birthday, the big one. Three-oh. I've been anticipating it for about six months, and it wasn't the least painful thing that's ever happened to me. It wasn't horrible, but still. I awoke to a freaking monsoon. I love the rain, but I'm totally over it at this point. I needed to run some errands for my trip to Russia in the morning, so I went out to Target and Old Navy where the rain soaked the bottom NINE INCHES of my jeans. Seriously.

Made it home in time to change clothes and take the kids over to Music in-law's so MM and I could go out to lunch. Had a lovely Thai meal, then we walked around the Square for a bit. The Special-Birthday-Cupcake place was closed, so I had no cake that day. :( When we were done, I had more errands to run, so we did them together. Not exactly fun or exciting, but hey, some things got crossed off my list.

I was feeling icky and restless that evening, so I decided to go to dance class. Yes, I went to the gym on my birthday. I felt like dance was a gift that God gave me last year through my friend Prisoner of Hope, and I wanted to express that back to Him. It was lovely.

In the last two days, I've received some sweet affirmations from people precious to me, lovely things that provided a little levity to the weight I've been feeling of late. Thank you. And you and you.

So even though the day wasn't exactly special or thrilling, as ElleBee said, "at least I know it's not that different than 29"! Yes indeed.

Quick P90X Update

I don't think that I've mentioned that I stopped doing p90X, but I did. I took a hard look at my goals and realized that what I want right now in my life and fitness routine is to be in the weight room more. I decided to go to M, T, Th, F in the weight room with cardio M night, Reformer T night, Pilates mat and cardio W night, and cardio S morning. I'm considered adding yoga on Sunday afternoon because I feel like I've lost some of my flexibility with all the weight training.

As for why I stopped P90X, I just didn't feel it was intense enough. I think it's a good program on the whole, but it wasn't getting me where I wanted to be. There are also more exercises that are dangerous than I'd like, at least for me. I don't have any HUGE weaknesses, but my hip flexors are iffy, and it's easy for me to strain the shoulder excessively. In the last two weeks of designing my own program, I'm seeing some results in my body that even a couple of the guys in the gym have mentioned. For now, that's what I'll do. I'll let you know how it comes out!

Girls In The Weight Room

I have something to say and, judging by the gender split in the weight room at my gym, it's not going to be popular.

I changed my strength schedule to M, T, Th, F instead of M, W, F because I wanted to do two 2-day splits. Tuesday, I was super excited to see when I got there that there were FIVE other women in there with me. And then I kept looking. Three of them were on ab benches/Roman chairs. One was doing hip adductors, and one girl was doing my kind of stuff, bicep curls and their ilk. That last girl worked hard and was in there for most of my workout. I get a little competitive, and she lifts around what I do (except I deadlift more and she does more on shoulder flys).

I was totally jazzed that I had someone to push me and was hoping that she'd be at the gym when I got there this morning. She was. My heart sunk.

She's a personal trainer. So apparently, at a big gym in an affluent neighborhood, I'm the only girl who is in the weight room regularly doing more than three machines. That's just not ok! The weight room isn't just for the musclehead guys. And there are is much more to do than just abs and thighs. Dumbbells? They're amazing.

I'm just saying give it a shot. The meatheads really want to help, and some of the things they've suggested I do have resulted in big changes in my body over the last few weeks. I'll post pictures soon. Get in there and sweat!