You never know where a post will go!

I want to talk about Stacia's, (aka Midlife Swimmer)pool challenge I mentioned yesterday. The fact that it's a non-food/non-weight-loss challenge, leads me to believe I have a good shot at achieving it! Fitness building and exercise seem easier for me to sustain these days - aarrgghh. The *biggest obstacle* for me is my utter hatred of putting on a bathing suit and venturing into territory where other humans may be present. But thanks to Stacia, I conquered that beast back on Feb. 9, 2010 and posted about it here. It was a pretty big deal, given my history.

Shortly after my initial water re-entry and 2 subsequent pool outings in the next days, I ended up tearing cartilage in my R knee (probably from doing too much in the water too soon), had another knee arthroscopy, and have not been back in the water since; rather not back in a swimsuit since. It's like my dental phobia...I work up the nerve, go for 6 months for cleaning and any work I need done, then lose my nerve and go another 2 years before returning. Hence the *biggest obstacle* back staring me down. But WTF? Honestly - I'm 56, happily married 28 years, not looking for a hook-up with a stranger or a summons to be in a Mrs. Senior Body Competition. The swimsuit behemoth will not stand in the path of my diving in.

The requirements of the challenge:
1. Commit to getting in a swimming pool to exercise at least 3 times before June 21, the first day of summer.
2. Encourage at least one real life friend to exercise in the water also. Already have done that, though made it clear I wanted them to do it NOT with me so they wouldn't see my cellulite! I'm joking.
3. Post acceptance of the challenge and then provide updates to Stacia each time I hit the water. Hey, I committed before the challenge even had a badge! Extra points?
4. Blog about the challenge and provide a link to others on blog to join if they like. Done.

This puts me in mind of what ultimately started me on this last ever and soon to be genuinely successful journey to weight loss and optimal fitness I began last June. I just found the post I wrote about it, which was my 2nd post ever on this blog. It's here, relatively short as my posts go, and tells the story. I'd actually forgotten a piece of it...the part about sitting in the meditation class and talking about my love of water. Also I noted that I hadn't a bathing suit on in 5 years - it was actually much longer, though I would sit with shorts on over a bathing suit at the pool when my kids were young. But I never got in the water because I couldn't bear the BIG REVEAL in front of the community of moms.

Reading that post really touched me today and has helped me remember just how horrible I felt about myself when I wrote it. Though I've had some bad eating episodes and plenty of toxic brain dump posts over the almost year I've been dong this, I see that I have never felt as low since that day. Despite little discernable sustained progress down the scale beyond a point, I've known, and know right now I'm going to ultimately be successful. I've gained acceptance and more love and respect for myself through this year of stumbling, blogging, conquering and backsliding. And that's because of this amazing resource of the blogging community. Each blogger who writes honestly about successes, failures, ups, downs, hopes met and hopes dashed have helped me know at a deep level that I'm not alone. I'm one of the many, and that is a very good place for this recovering alcoholic overweight self absorbed gal to be.

And I thought I was jsut going to write about the Pool Challenge today!