Blood & Blisters: A New Palomba Experience

So for the first time in about ten years I'm attempting to exercise on a regular basis, I knew it was going to be difficult but it turns out I was wrong about how it was going to be difficult.

I thought I was going to have to force myself to do what I was doing everyday and instead I find that I'm excited, and eager to do the things I'm doing. I like walking on the treadmill, even if I'm not entirely used to it. I enjoy lifting weights again, even though what I'm doing now doesn't even resemble what I used to do.

But it's proven difficult in other ways. I used to have really good wind for a big guy, used to take a lot to tire me out. I knew it would be different now, but I wasn't sure how different. I'd thought I was lowballing myself when I guessed how long I could jog for. Turns out I was spot on. It's almost not even worth starting when you can only last a few minutes. But I also took to walking with great ease. What tired me out on the first day was ridiculously easy by the third, and by the fifth I was able to easily triple what I did the first day. This isn't all that remarkable since what I did was rather pitiful, but it was good enough for me to start. Then I hit my first roadblock. I was walking in shoes not meant to be abused like that and it was cutting up the top of my feet, so I got rid of the shoes and went at it barefoot, after a couple of miles of that between days 4 & 5 my feet were left a bloody blistered mess. And thought I put in a mile yesterday morning, last night and this morning my feet hurt so bad I couldn't get on the treadmill at all. Tonight I plan to start again, but this time I'll wear the shoes anyway and this weekend I'll set out to find something better.

I'm also going to pick up a new Foreman grill and some chicken and see if I can't make some of my own recipes up. I imagine it turning out vaguely like my early cooking experiences back in grade school (I don't understand mom, I like tunafish, I like watermelon, and I like peanut butter, why can't they all go together in the blender?)

I'm also getting a bit bored. I haven't done much but work these past two weeks, so I might go out for a drink on my own this evening, and then get some exercise in before calling it a night and heading up to a camp tomorrow morning for a meeting about the summer.

Yeah, everything seems a bit off right now. But...well, I'm just getting started.

Again.