2005-04-21 - 2:15 p.m.

I hurt.

I hurt a lot.

And this is a good thing.

No, I have not gotten into S&M, although some people may describe this morning's workout as precisely that.

Enter Rich the Personal Trainer, who I suspect is a card-carrying member of the Torturer-of-the-Month Club.

Yes, boys and girls, Marcellus and I decided that the time has come to shop for one of those. (Personal trainers, not torturers.)

(Wait! Isn't it the same thing?)

(Nevermind . . .)

At any rate, this has been the first time in years that we find a PT who we really like.

The truth is that after four years of relentless working out, we feel that we are in a rut and that it is time to spice up the workouts.

I love the gym, even if it means getting up early in the morning.

You see, I am not a morning person. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And no, I cannot sleep until noon, but I would be really happy if I could stay in bed until 8:00 a.m. -- every single day.

Working out means that we have to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. at the latest and, if we do the thing with Rich the Torturer, we will have to leave by 5:45 a.m.

Oh, joy.

But it will be worth it.

You see, there are things that I don't have time to do. For instance, as much as I would love to go and hit every fencing practice in the area every single week, that would mean that I would have to give up time on other endeavors.

For instance, time with Marcellus and Carlos, time for my A&S projects, time for American Idol (yes, I am addicted to the damned show), time for myself, those are examples of what I would be giving up for fencing practices.

And no, I am not willing to give those up.

But I am willing to wake up at 5:15 a.m. and hit the gym.

It does make a difference.

However, as much as I like to improve my game, the main reason for my hitting the gym is because I am not getting any younger and I would like to be able to continue doing the things I do for as long as I can.

I also want Marcellus to be healthy, and I want to give a good example to Carlos on this.

And if it means that I have to wake up at 5:15 a.m., well so be it.

It will be worth it.

�

�

rewind - fast forward