P90X

Finally, I began P90X tonight!  Actually, WE began P90X tonight.  I had always planned on waiting until I broke 200 to start.  But then, in November, my brother asked if I would be willing to start early so that we could do it together.  By together, I mean in spirit only as my brother lives in San Diego.  It was intended to provide moral support and encouragement... and a little brotherly motivation.  But, from the time we agreed to start a couple of weeks later up until the time that those same two weeks had passed, my brother got impatient and started it on his own.  Since he didn't wait, I decided to stick to my original plan and wait until I saw 190-something. 

Sometime after that, my brother must have stopped doing the program.  Not sure when that happened.  He never brought it up again and I never asked.  When I finally broke 200 almost two weeks ago, he and I once again made a pact to start the program.  That was last Monday.  Due to some technical difficulties, I wasn't ready to start on Monday.  Frank insisted that it just made sense that we start on a Monday.  So, we were once again delayed by a week.

Now, I have to tell you that as excited as I have been about starting P90X, I have also felt a slight trepidation hidden in the shadows of that excitement.  I was worried that I couldn't handle it... or maybe that I didn't want to handle it.  I was worried about my knee... a knee that, while markedly improved compared to a year ago, is still and will never be 100%.  I was worried about my stomach.  While I have done some ab work over the last 10 months, it has still been minimal.  I still find myself a little paranoid about working my stomach too hard ever since my surgery three and a half years ago. 

And, I was right to worry.  P90X is a bitch!  I don't think Tony Horton intended this program for out-of-shape 46 year old born-again athletes.  I don't think it was meant for guys with bum knees and resectioned colons.  My knee bothered me enough that I had to pull out the knee brace.  I couldn't do everything on that DVD.  But, I didn't quit.  And, I won't quit.  I will put a different DVD in every night and I will keep doing whatever I can until I can do no more.  I think if Tony saw me a year ago, he would have been fine with my effort tonight... even if I still kind of felt like a loser.

The "we" doesn't include just my brother either.  My wife, Lori, wanted to attempt it as well and was there in the living room struggling through each exercise with me!  What a great feeling to have both my wife and my brother going through this pain and torture at the same time.  Makes it that much easier.  And, as far as I can tell, Lori is planning to be by my side tomorrow night as well.  Right Lori?

The final "before" and "after" pictures from my journey will have to wait.  Now that I have started this, the Day 90 photos will have to be used rather than the Day 1 photos taken tonight.  I promise you are only about 13 weeks away from seeing those nasty "before" captures.  Hang in there.

One day down, 89 to go!  Here's to Tony Horton and his madness...