Maquinna's Poop du Jour

Dress Rehearsals

I made two practice runs this morning. One was taking a look at the route I'm going to have to run for my timed mile at the end of boot camp next week. Because I won't be there on the last day (that's the wedding day), I'm going to have to run my end-of-camp mile next Wednesday. It will also be a different course because we won't be in the same location. Still a mile, but this one will have a bit of a hill in it.

Sargeant Alexis took us on a half-mile run this morning as part of our regular boot camp activities, which covered part of the route I'm going to have to run next week. I can definitely say I'm noticing a difference in my endurance level. It's still not terrific, but I can run farther and longer than I did a few weeks ago. I just want to beat my time. It'll be harder with the hill involved but I understand better now why runners emphasize the mental challenges of running. I know there are mental obstacles I have to find a way through to make me better able to run the whole mile. I'm not going to beat myself up if I have to walk partway - I expect that'll happen - but I just have to not give into it too early.

This brings us to the second dress rehearsal of the morning. For the last week now I've been trying to find a time to try on my dress for the wedding again and make note of any final adjustments I might have to make. It's tough to get it up myself, partly because of where the zipper's placed. Even with help, I hadn't been able to get the zipper up all the way...yikes! I really didn't want to have to make any alterations if I could help it, though.

This morning I decided to try again, and this time it all came together. I got into the crazy bodyshaper and then into the dress. With a little help from the mirror to figure out where to reach for that zipper, it went all the way to the top. An enormous grin spread across my face when I stood back and saw the dress on me for the first time. It's as beautiful as I imagined. I put on the rest of the stuff to see how it would all look together - shoes, jewellery, everything - and I really did feel like a bride.

When the alarm clock goes off before 5 tomorrow morning, and I'm still in a sleepy daze from the late night beforehand, so sleepy that it wouldn't take much to get me to lay back down again, I'll just have to bring that image to mind. Without boot camp I don't think this would have happened this morning. I can keep it up for another week - impending timed mile and all.

posted by Maquinna @ 9:32 a.m.