I found this poster on Pinterest, and I thought of it today while I was in a spinning class. Yep, I, the non-athlete of the millennium, was convinced by my super-fit friend Rachel, to attend a spinning class. I never thought that I would love it. She’d warned me that the first few spinning classes I attended would not be in my “best moves” section of my memory, and that I’d have to strive to like it in the long term once I could take it. I anticipated hell. When the trainer/teacher came in, Rachel looked at me and warned me that “Connie is a tough one. If you need to sit down, do it. If you need to lower your resistance, do it. Do what you can.” Oh no. Now I have the nightmare instructor in the class where clearly I am outranked by everyone in the room. The music started and Connie got going shouting instructions. I hung in for the first song and a half, but then needed to take my seat. Instead of feeling defeated, I remembered this poster and smiled. I kept peddling. If I could keep peddling for the whole hour, I was way ahead of if I hadn’t attended at all. I did make it through the entire class peddling my little butt off. Proudly, I actually “did it!” by hanging in with the class and actually doing what Connie said all the way through three of the other songs in the hour. I convinced myself that I didn’t have to do the WHOLE class, but I could make it through THIS song. I hung in. I found myself enjoying it, and becoming motivated to do better the next time. Maybe instead of three songs of full participation, I can do four. Interesting coming from a girl who is a skinny minnie who unfairly has eaten like crud for her whole life and never worked out until after her second baby at age 30, isn’t it?! It isn’t easy, but I will return to class. I may not have aced it the first time. I may not have been perfect, and I may not have been the envy of everyone in the room, but as I peddled for that hour? I went faster than every single person in the world who was sitting down. Ready or not, Connie. Here. I. Come.
