Harder Than I Imagined....

Today I did my first workout to get ready to carry the torch and well....let's just say I am not in near as good of shape as I thought I was.  When I heard I was carrying the torch and people started telling me I needed to work out, I actually laughed thinking this was not that big of a deal and I could easily handle it.  I was apparently wrong and this is going to be much harder than I thought it would be.  

Thanks to Sarah Payne who is the director of the Niceville YMCA, my family was given a free membership to help me prepare to be a torchbearer.  The plan was to find some military members who would help me train, but so far no one has volunteered.  So Sarah came to my rescue and helped show what to do.  We started on the elliptical trainer because it will be most like me jogging with the torch and also works the arms muscles.  You might think it won't be that hard to hold the torch up, but try holding you arm up and you will see your muscles get tired pretty quickly.  Sarah starts me on level 1 and I tried to show off by moving myself up to level 3.  That wasn't the smartest idea because about 30 seconds later I was moving it back to level 1!  My mom and Sarah were very amused by this.  A minute later I ask if I am almost there and my mom and Sarah are trying to convert meters into miles.  When they find the answer, Sarah looks at how far I have gone and tells me I am not even half way yet!  Finally I made it and thought I was going to fall over (I think they made me go further than I really had to just so they could laugh).  

Next we headed over to some of the weight machines to work on my leg and arm muscles.  When you actually learn how to work those machines the correct way, it makes a big difference....and it hurts!  I guess when they say no pain, no gain, they aren't joking!  Thanks to my mom who had to take a picture, you can see what I looked like working out.....

Finally, I finished up on the bike which was probably the easiest part of the whole workout.  I have a little over a month before I leave for London, so I guess I will be heading to the gym 4-5 times a week and working out.  Luckily, Sarah assures me that I will be ready and will jog along smiling and waving while I hold the torch high and proud for my country and the awesome men and women who serve it in the military!  Thanks again Sarah and the YMCA!!