Chubby.

Last night I went shopping. I felt very chubby and came home rather frustrated & depressed. I decided that a trip to the gym (in our building- I have no excuses for not going) was far overdue. So I went to the gym and I ran. And ran. Having not exercised in several weeks, and sporadically at that, I was impressed that I finished about 3 1/2 miles. I still felt huge though (it was one of those days), and decided that I needed to walk up the 28 (the gym is on the 2nd floor) flights of stairs to our apartment. Mike has done it twice this week, but has looked rather tired every time he gets into our apartment. Nonetheless, I felt up to it.

By the 7th floor, I was feeling pretty tired and thought that perhaps I was in over my head. By the 10th floor, I thought I might have a heart attack, or at least pass out in the stairwell. I wondered how long it would take someone to find me, and thought that maybe next time I should tell someone where I am. The next 20 flights of stairs were pretty tough, but I was determined to meet my goal. I felt like I had 50 pound weights attached to each leg. It was absolutely exhausting. I would like to think that it would be a bit easier had I not just ran, but I'm not so sure. I actually made it into my apartment on the 30th floor, but had no one to tell about my victory as Mike was gone, so I called my mother to boast. This conversation did not last very long, as I kept feeling like I was going to throw up. I managed to keep whatever was in my stomach down, but it took a few minutes to recover.

I realized 3 things last night:

1. I need to go to the gym every day.
2. If we ever lose power in our building and do not have functioning elevators, I will sleep in the mailroom (at least for the next few weeks until I am in better shape- I am going to make this hike a habit).
3. I could never be a firefighter (I will not even get into all of my thoughts about the incredible firefighters who climbed 100 flights of stairs up into the World Trade Center on 9/11 with 75 lbs. of gear)