Pumping Irony

It occurred to me on the walk into the office this morning (glorious blue skies, soft NW breeze, 32 degrees) that I’ve maybe been beating myself up a bit too much about this running thing.

Motivation is a mysterious phenomenon. After a pretty sedentary week (a little commuter cycling, no lifting), this morning I climbed out of bed, unfolded my exercise/meditation mat and slid inexplicably back into my routine: a few sun salutations and other pretend yoga poses, some stretching, 30 push-ups, a little zazen.

Been awhile, I guess. That doesn’t mean I’ve been avoiding the gym, though. In fact, I’ve been falling in love…

Everyone who knows anything about fitness tells me that I need to do three things regularly to stay in shape: cardio, strength training and stretching.

No intervals on Tuesday’s stationary bike ride (you really have to be in a certain mood), but I did a…

The buff guy last night (is he at the gym every night?!?) had a T-shirt with arrows pointing to his…

One of the buffer guys at the gym on Monday was wearing a very tight T-shirt with this message: “An…

OK, this is weird. Against my better judgment, I shuffled my pathetic ancient body downstairs to the gym after work…

Remember the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart’s sitting at Martini’s bar and prays for deliverance from…

I climbed on the treadmill last night and, after a five-minute walking warm-up, jogged a mile at a 4 mph…

Well, my shoulder’s no longer sore — now it’s my back that’s killing me.

It’s a muggy day for a bicycle commute, even one that lasts only 15 minutes, and this morning it’s made…

I’m not going to pretend it hasn’t been awhile since I’ve posted (these things are dated, after all), but real work comes first and I’ve been catching up after a week’s vacation. (Yeah, I could’ve posted while on vacation . . . whatever.) It doesn’t mean, however, that I’ve been slacking off in the workout department.

I’ve been riding my bike into work recently, but today, which promises thundershowers after work, I decided to hoof it.…

I skipped the gym last night and stayed home from work today in hopes of thwarting a cold bug that’s…

My Friday workout felt hasty and ill-conceived, sort of a circuit-training approach without the “training” part, as I wandered from…

I rode my bicycle to work this morning, even though I chose to wear the inexplicable sneaker-khakis combo (see “If…

My goal this morning was to walk into work (I’d left my bike in the office due to yesterday’s thunderstorm)…

OK, so I promised that I would report on last night’s workout — specifically focusing on my 10 goals for…

After my Crapmobile episode on Monday, I was anxious to get back on my regular workout schedule, so last night…

I trekked through the beginnings of a classic March blizzard yesterday morning, workout gear in my backpack, fully intending to…