Putting the "Kick" in "Kick-Ass."

In my Chico days, I took a few phys ed-type classes from time to time, including aerobics, in an attempt to keep my weight in check. Aerobics, you can imagine, was particularly hellish. Even now, at my highest level of fitness ever, I am not comfortable in an aerobics setting. It always seems that just as I finally figure out what the instructor is doing with her feet and start doing it myself, she's moved on to something even more complicated, involving pirouettes and maybe a squat or two. While the workout itself is effective, I spend most of the class feeling completely out of sync with what everyone else is doing.

But one thing I always enjoyed was the kick-boxing elements we sometimes included. The kicks and punches were easy enough for me to follow, and I liked how they felt--at once easy but also very, very effective.

Last week, a water main broke at my gym on Wednesday morning, leaving me to work out in the garage with my hodge-podge medley of equipment--a kettlebell, a balance board, a resistance band, and a yoga mat. As I worked out, I thought back to those kick-box workouts and started throwing quick punches and jabs, and doing high kicks.

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to incorporate some kick-boxing into my fitness regime, so this weekend, I looked for deals on classes, and found a Groupon deal--8 classes for $50. I'll be calling to set up a time this week and I'm really excited. If I like the school, maybe I'll invest in more classes. I'm thinking once a week will be great, in addition to my gym workouts and running.

Incidentally, the running is going well. I set a new best distance at 9.21 miles today, well on my way to getting to the 10 miles Matt recommended in my half marathon training. I figure sometime in August I'll hit that 10-mile mark. The Urban Cow Half is October 5, so there'll be a week or so of tapering before that (which conveniently coincides with my first concert, when I won't have any time to run anyway).

I feel good. Running is never going to be easy, but I'm finally at a point that as I'm out there, sweating, breathing hard, wondering what the hell is so fun about this, I find myself smiling randomly, or working through things in my head. I'm not nervous about doing a half marathon, just excited. While I'll initially be nervous about starting kick-boxing, I'm mostly just excited to do something new that is fun and good for me.