I’m not perfect. Nor will I ever be. Though I may, jokingly, claim that I am “the perfect woman” or that I’m perfect for some job or role, I am actually imperfect. And that is okay.
I’m imperfect because, as I mentioned in this post , I burn toast, trip often, and hate wearing socks. In fact, I’m so imperfect that in the process of typing this post, I somehow managed to hit my head on the metal cabinet above my desk in the grad student workspace, making a lot of noise and attracting attention. I sweat a lot, I get cotton mouth when I’m nervous, and I don’t always eat right. I have a hard time letting things go and I sometimes put all my proverbial eggs in one basket. Also, I decided to quit my half marathon training.
If quitting makes you imperfect, then I can deal with that. I chose to stop training because my knee injury isn’t healing fast enough. It is healing and I can run again, but I lost a lot of endurance in my down time and I just don’t want to push it hard and give myself more problems. I also stopped because, while I lose $125 in the race entry fee (the Nike Women’s (Half) Marathon), I won’t lose $400 flying to San Francisco, staying in a hotel, eating out, and then being disappointed because I had to walk half the race with a knee injury. My friend Mary who was running it with me is of the same state of mind, so we both decided that, while we are disappointed at missing the opportunity, more will come and it is the more responsible decision in the end.
Since I have no big races to train for anymore but maybe a 5k on the horizon, I’m slowly working on building up my endurance and really enjoying running again. I’m not looking at distance or speed but just running and walking when I see fit. I love this! But I do need some kind of goal to work towards so I’ve devised a clever scheme to deal with some other “imperfections”.
I want to tone up and feel better about my imperfect body. This body will never be perfect, and I’m okay with that, but I think a weight training regimen will be something I can work on with a goal in mind and still be able to change something about me that I think can be perfected. And perfected does not imply perfect.
It is pretty simple but I have a basic calendar:
From my days of lifting weights with my club and high school swim teams, I know some basic moves that really help. I know how to use most of the machines, safely, and also some hand weight moves. I am going to use both the gym and exercise videos with a resistance band and an abs ball to accomplish all these exercises and make sure I rest, stretch, and don’t burn out. If you have links to workouts or recommendations for videos, let me know! I think that I might also look into personal training, if they have it at UT for students, and consider investing in a session or 2 to really help me out.
Suggestions and ideas are, as always, welcome! I’m not trying to be perfect, because that will never happen, but I am going to do my best to work on an imperfection that I see in myself and feel better about it.
That said, I’m off to find my tickets to the gun show.
