Diversions in San Antonio

I'm waiting for my team in the lobby of this beautiful hotel overlooking the valleys near San Antonio. It's been 70 degrees everyday, sunny and by all measures, perfect. However, I've only been outside twice in the last five days and am sad to report that I did not see one square foot of Texas outside my resort. I've spent the last several days at a national sales meeting for Hormel Food Service. After working countless hours the past five months on various projects relating to the convention, it was extremely rewarding to see it all come together. In a person record, I managed to work 70+ hours from Tuesday to yesterday and, I'll be honest, I'm completely exhausted.

The great thing about foodservice people is that we LOVE food. Hence, we eat and drink the finest palate pleasers whenever we get together. Roasted salmon, mixed greens with goat cheese and fresh cranberries, pork wellington, molten lava chocolate cake and several glasses of chardonnay (yes, I actually drank the stuff I usually refer to as akin to "licking an oak barrel"). But this crazy schedule and non-stop food fest resulted in me completely ignoring my P90X workouts.

I could tell you that getting up at 5:30 every morning this week and working until 11:00pm prevented me from keeping to my schedule. I could tell you that my hotel room was too small to complete the workouts. But part of our conference this week stressed the importance of accountability; that providing excuses doesn't make us or our team better. So instead I'll tell you that I simply didn't make it a priority. That I chose to catch a quick power nap or relax instead of doing my routine.

My husband on the other hand has stuck to it like a champion. He worked out even while contractors are in our condo remodeling the bathroom. He worked out despite getting several phone calls in the middle of Yoga X. He worked out even though he had work to do later that night. So this post is mostly dedicated to how awesome my hubby is. His dedication is truly remarkable and I couldn't be more proud.

So as I head home today, Josh will pick me up from the airport and bring me to Cuppa Java as we do every weekend since we got married. He'll let me take a super long nap even though we haven't seen each other in almost a week. And then, he'll smile and get me right back into training tonight.

Day 30

Hard to believe but Josh and I have been doing P90X for 30 whole days! 

Sure, 30 days in the grand scheme of things doesn't seem like a lot, but there are some things to celebrate:

• I can do a crane pose for 2 seconds (this is a huge improvement over me falling on my ass repeatedly)
• I can ALMOST get through Ab Ripper X without wanting to puke
• I'm able to do more than one push-up (closer to 25 if I'm cheating on my knees)
• When I go running, I feel stronger
• And I lost a half an inch on my tummy!

Of course, 30 days isn't a miracle worker and even though we've been working hard, there is still a long road ahead of us. Things to look forward to:

• Losing weight. Yes, we've been working hard but our bodies are hanging onto those pounds like they're going out of style. Hopefully those pesky few will start to melt off between now and day 60
• Being able to finish the Ab Ripper workout and do ALL 340 reps
• Starting the new workout: biceps, triceps, shoulders this week

Overall, I'm really happy with where we're at. I know the things I'm proud of might seem silly to other people, but it's a huge accomplishment if you've ever done these workouts. I'm a little nervous about next week as I'll be in San Antonio for a conference and need to figure out how to get my workouts done in a teeny-tiny hotel room. It will also be the first time I have to do the routines by myself. I'll admit, at first I was a bit nervous to workout together considering my lack of upper body strength, but it has been a HUGE HELP. Josh is a great cheerleader (minus the short skirt and high pitched voice) during the routines and it's been (dare I say it?) fun to have dedicated time each day where we do something together. 

In other news, thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts about my mom. I was overwhelmed with how many people sent me a message about her and gave advice on things to try. She is doing pretty well the last few days (and wanted me to clarify that she CAN move, just not very well....apparently a few friends thought she was in early stages of rigor mortis). Again, thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, it means the world to me.