I lived!

My legs are like jelly, but I made it.  Tonight was week 8 of Runner’s Boot Camp.

According to my physiotherapist, I have more symmetry and have developed greater hip stability since starting the class.  She also thinks I’ve lost weight, gained more lean tissue (I am hoping she means muscle!) and gained some strength.  She says I can maintain these gains by adding 15-20 minutes of the exercises we were doing in boot camp twice a week after my shorter runs.

I hadn’t really noticed any differences myself; that is, until I came face-to-face with “The Scotland Street Hill.”  The hill that, no matter how fresh my legs were, no matter how well I had eaten, slept and warmed up, I just could not make it all the way up without walking.  The kind of hill that is so steep that you can actually walk it faster than running it, because running feels more like bouncing straight up and down on the spot than actually moving forward.  Well, folks, by now you’ve probably guessed:  I conquered the Hill.  I ran up to it, and just like that, I ran up it.  Don’t get me wrong, it was hard. But like He-Man, I had the power!  And it really wasn’t so bad.

So do I recommend boot camp?  Well, it’s not running.  But I think it was worth it.