My heart was throbbing and sweat poured down my face. My beleaguered lungs raggedly forced air out of my mouth and ferociously sucked it back with a greedy lust for oxygen. I looked down at the LCD panel and saw more than five minutes remaining on the timer.
Crap.
I didn’t want to stop. The previous session on the exercise bike prove too painful for me but this was different. I was on an elliptical and didn’t have the pain of a tiny bike saddle beckoning me to give in by pinching nerves and sending spasms of pain to my brain.
No, this time I was at the gym listening to Pink Floyd on the iPod and exercising my heart out. Thirty of the longest minutes in the day. I may not have had the pain of the exercise bike digging into me, but my calves burned like they were cramping up and my feet were beginning to go numb. I should have stopped right there, but I couldn’t give in to the temptation. I had to finish.
To my right, a young girl mounted another elliptical and started her routine. Her pace was a lot quicker than mine and I was suddenly reminded how far out of shape I am. Several very built guys, probably older than me by a few years, curled weights in the next room, looking completely at ease with their work while I complained about a stint on an elliptical.
Something in me snapped and I hit a sort of second wind. Suddenly I had the energy to continue and I started peddling faster and faster. I looked down at the display and watched the indicator of calories burned: 350… 360… 372…
With two minutes left I hit 390 and peddled even faster. My breath was that of a steam locomotive roaring down the tracks and my face was curled up in concentration so that I looked like Stephen King’s tortured Cujo. I would break 400 before the exercise finished.
A few seconds later, the moment came and I hit 400 calories burned. Then 410… And finally as the timer reached zero I was at 422.7! I continued for a minute or two to cool down and regain my sanity.
I left the room with the aerobic equipment and found Lori in the hallway. She had completed her stint on the treadmill and was waiting for me to finish. “Ready to go?” she asked. “Yeah,” I said in a breathless voice.
Needless to say I slept well last night, and this morning I paid for it with sore calves and a welcome stiffness from my back down to my feet that I haven’t felt in a long while. I forgot how rejuvenating a good work out could be. It’s good to be doing it again.