Having fun while you exercise -- getting back in the saddle!

This morning I switched up my workout a little bit and attended a spin class at the fitness center where I work.  The past 6 months or so, Wednesday mornings have been spent running with my friends -- which, as I've mentioned before, is something I have come to love and really enjoy.  It's something that is fun for me.

However, I decided to switch it up today and attend spin class because just recently, a spin instructor whose class I used to attend religiously (who hasn't taught for nearly 2 years) just picked up the Wednesday AM class at the gym.  I looked back at my old blogs to see if I ever wrote about the spin class that I used to attend but I didn't see much.  Except for that I used to go with friends who would help to "hold me accountable."

I wish I had written more about that, because attending spin class with friends was really a pretty big shift for me, now that I think about it.  Every Tuesday and Thursday I would attend the lunch time class with my good friend ICT (who I visited in Brazil last year!) and other regular attendees and it would always be so much fun.  We'd walk to the fitness center together, get our butt kicked in class with our favorite teacher (who always had the best music!) and then grab lunch together afterwards.  There were "regulars" who became friends, and it was something that I looked forward to in my days & weeks.

I attended that class regularly while I was in the midst of losing weight.  And that class was probably the first time in my life that exercise became more than a chore, but something that I looked forward to doing and had FUN doing.  It was one of the things that sparked me to do even more... sign up for boot camp, try other classes, work out with friends, etc.  So much started for me when I would go to spin class every Tuesday and Thursday with ICT and push ourselves through class to the teacher's amazing tunes (I used to love when Rihanna's "We Found Love" was incorporated into spin class.)

At the same time I left my old job, my favorite instructor, who was a part of that whole journey and exercise transformation for me, left to take on a new role as well.  We've stayed in touch over Facebook but then a couple weeks ago I learned that she was teaching spin again at the new site I worked at!  I was so excited and moved my schedule around to take her class today.  She has just as much energy and intensity as in the past, and still an awesome music selection.  I loved my workout this morning and it felt great to be back in the saddle with her teaching the class.  I'm not sure if she knows what an impact her classes had on me, but spinning with her this morning left me feeling so nostalgic and reminded me so much of why I originally fell in love with exercise, group exercise, spin, working out with friends and specifically -- her classes!!  It was the first time in my life when exercise went from being a "chore" to something fun, that I looked forward to and had fun with.

I'm a bit torn as to what to do moving forward because I love my Wednesday morning runs and have marathon trainings on the schedule... but I also looooved spin class this morning and want to do that more!!

Stacie and I at spin this morning.  Sorry for the blurriness, it was early... :)

Annnnd.... this is what I've somehow turned into over the past couple years.  I am now torn as to which 6:00 a.m. workout to do on Wednesday mornings because I love them both.  Who have I become??!!  It's kind of awesome, but, hey, don't go putting out a missing persons report right away.  In case there was any doubt if I was still the same person or if I had completely gone off the deep end... let me tell you that for lunch today, I ate cookies.  Legitimately, cookies were my lunch.  I had a homemade egg sandwich and an apple for breakfast.  And today at my little lunchtime holiday gathering I organized, I ate cookies in place of actual food for lunch.  I had a few of the meringues I made (ugh, like, 4ish...), a red velvet cookie with cream cheese frosting, a mint chocolate cookie, an almond cookie, and a peppermint chocolate oreo truffle.  So yeah, I'm still me :)