Berkeley Ironworks... and turning a corner :)

This place is all kinds of awesome :)

On Thursday when I was in for my climbing lesson, I noticed again that they have treadmills and ellipticals and weight stuff in addition to the climbing business...but I had no idea how complete of a gym it is! I went Saturday to do a some strength work and a little varied cardio stuff...

I did a little on the blurry treadmill...

blurry because I am out of shape and my hands were shaking...

not because I was running fast.

Then I experienced the elliptical...

I went 'backwards' on this one to work my hip differently.

And to finish my cardio portion, I jumped on the rowing machine...

just like the good ol' days :)

The cardio area looks out over the weight machines and the climbing walls...

The pictures really suck because I wasn't too sure how keen people were to being in pictures 

that would be plastered all over the internet ;-)

What I discovered is that this gym has even more than what I saw at my first casual glance. Up on that cardio level is a whole big section of free weights and stationary bikes. Somewhere, there is a large area for spinning classes and yoga classes and even more classes...that are all free for members! And they have bathrooms and showers. And they give you towels. Can you tell it's been a million years since I belonged to a gym? This was just way too much excitement for me...

After my short cardio adventure and quick self-tour of the gym, I set to working my hip adductors and abductors and glutes slowly and gently so as not to overdo or further injure. Then I hung out for a bit...

source

This is a hangboard. It simulates all the different holds you might find on a climbing wall...some are super hard to hold onto...like, SUPER hard. So weird to think about building the stamina in my fingers, hands and forearms! Right now they are so weak that I have a hard time hanging on long enough to make good use of my legs when climbing. I aim to remedy that :) To that end, I worked on the hangboard until I couldn't stand it anymore...I don't know how else to explain it. And when I finished, I went home...feeling satisfied and sweaty ... such a nice change from depressed and lethargic!

And I think I've turned a corner.

Today something happened that a week ago...or even two days ago...would have caused me to curl up in a ball on the sofa. But I didn't go into sofa-mode...I got pissed. Not super pissed, mind you, but extremely annoyed. I feel like this is a really good sign. Just say "No!" to curling up in the fetal position and wishing you were in a deep, dark cave!

I very quickly got over the biz that got me pissed, and the day has been a good one. A piano recital for one child and a harp rehearsal for another and an interest in doing things...and a random blogger sighting that involved me shouting out the window of my dirty minivan at this cute couple running together and pissing off the drivers behind me as I lingered too long at the right-turn-after-stopping-at-the-red-light to say "hello" and introduce myself. She probably thinks I'm a total wacko... and I am. So her lawyerly intuition is spot on. But to me, the mere fact that I had the energy and the chutzpah to make the effort to act like a dork is huge. HUGE.

So here's to what I'm hoping is an emergence from the abyss (hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying this!). And many thanks to all of my awesome readers for bearing with me and helping to buoy me up for the past several months as I wrestle with this challenge. You all have been the best :)