Highlights of Life

Exercise…

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 4:54 pm | Posted in exercise, health | Leave a comment

Exercise does the body good.  It really does. 

A long long time ago, in a very distant time, I used to be a jogger.  Fell into the sport purely by accident.  In my 2nd year of university, my university friend “L” decided we should go jogging together as she had recently picked up the sport.  So she me took to the athletic center and we jogged.  Let me tell you it was pretty difficult the very first time I ever went jogging.  Time seemed to stand still, and 20 minutes seemed like forever.  Every single minute was difficult.

But soon enough, 20 minutes of jogging became 30 minutes, and then 40 minutes.  And before I knew it, I was jogging regularly.  And days when I didn’t go jogging, I would crave the exercise.  It was something that, no matter how hectic the schedule became, was prioritized as important and squeezed into the day.

But after graduation, the jogging stopped.  I’m not sure what was the cause……. perhaps it was the busy schedule….. or perhaps it was hearing my opthamologist talking about the risk of retinal detachment.  But whatever the cause, I simply stopped.  And before I knew it, I had cut out exercise all together.

But today, we went to the gym.  I got on the treadmill with the full intention of ONLY walking.  But before I knew it, I was jogging.  Mentally, I thought, “how can I possibly go jogging, if I haven’t jogged in ages!”  But it was as if I hadn’t stopped.  Incredibly, it’s almost like my muscles actually remembered how they had been used years ago.  Almost like putting on an old pair of jeans.  Granted I couldn’t jog longer than 30 minutes today… but it was rather surprising.

I forgot how much I enjoyed the sport.  The steadiness of jogging, where your body falls into a natural rhythm, as you move your arms and legs into a smooth motion over and over again.  The release of natural endorphins that occur about 10 minutes into the activity, that brings the sense of that you can literally go on forever.  The little worries of the day falling away, as you simply concentrate on the activity at hand, and simply pound away at the pavement (er.. well.. treadmill).

Well… jogging leaves me refreshed.  It’s different from praying.  Praying does the mind, spirit, and soul a lot of good (and thus indirectly the body as well).  Whilst jogging only does the body good.  But man, is it ever so good.  Almost good enough to make me to jogging again tommorrow!