Spinning and the Backyard

I went to my first spinning class last night. I've always been too intimidated to go to one before. But after I did Boot Camp for a month, I wanted to find something that would kick my butt in a similar fashion because I'm not prone to push myself very hard when it's just me working out.

So I went to the class and for the first 15 minutes I hated it. It was so hard and my body is not used to moving like that when it is hard. I kept thinking I was going to fall off the bike or spin my legs out of control. But once I got used to it and by the end of the 45-minute class, I loved it. I was dripping wet from sweating and the instructor estimated that we burned about 800 calories during the class. Well, maybe she did, but I didn't always turn up the resistance when she said to. Regardless, I really liked it and I want to keep going.

But today, my butt is really sore from the bike seat. And my calves are almost throbbing. In fact, I'm writing this at 1am because I can't sleep. And the main thing keeping me from sleeping in the fact that my calves are so sore. They don't hurt really. I don't think taking any pain reliever would help. They are just really tight. So much that it hurts and is a little difficult to go down stairs. Maybe I'll take an Advil just in case.

I also bought a pair of biking shorts with padding in them to solve the seat problem. That should take care of it. The other reason I think I can't sleep is because Mandy, my new roommate, and I went walking in the neighborhood after dinner. It was kind of late for me to exercise (around 8:30) and I think my body has a hard time calming down after that. Even after a bath, some hot tea and a chapter from The Shack, I still couldn't fall asleep.

On a completely different note, here are some pictures of our backyard. Thanks to Photoshop, I stitched them together so you get the whole panorama:



It is so gorgeous out the back door. It really is a nice garden and I'm so incredibly spoiled by it. The yard and the rest of the house. Daisy loves it too, of course. I just realized that I have to stay here forever because my standards have been raised too high by getting to live here. I don't know if I'll ever find a place to live that is as fantastic as this place!