I’m a bit disheartened to see how quickly some will give up on a desire to exercise more, but at the same time selfishly delighted that I don’t have to compete for equipment or be sandwiched in on the last free treadmill.

Delighted because as I embark on 2009, I’m working harder at the gym than I have before. 

Santa sent me sessions with a trainer for Christmas, and I meet with him every other week as he guides me through new workouts with different equipment that I never would have tried on my own. 

That contraption in the middle of the gym with the pulleys, stack weights and 20 different handle bar attachments — my new best friend. Learning how to stack weights onto different stations — only difficult when someone leaves weights on that are too heavy for me to lift. And free weights resting over in the corner — an easy little exercise. 

I bought myself a nice water bottle so I don’t slobber all over the place trying to drink out of a wide mouth Nalgene bottle and maintain motion at the same time. I picked up an armband to hold my iPod rather than risk holding it in my hands and dropping it. Sometimes, the gym accoutrements seem to make actually going more fun. 

Along with the fun gym gear and new sculpting and toning routine, I’ve committed myself to another challenge — the 11^th Mary’s Walk and Kerrymen Pub (5K) Road Race — and I’m running (probably more like jogging) this one. 

Luckily the course does not include a hill reminiscent of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer hike up Munjoy Hill I did in October, but even thought it’s “flat and fast” I’m guessing I’ll be at the tail end of the running pack. 

One of my friends — a member of cross country teams in high school and college — has run the race seven years in a row now. Last week, she convinced me I should join.

I have a month and a half to get up to jogging three miles for the road race. It’s the kind of goal I’ve never set for myself, but something I’m willing to try at least once. 

Last Monday I jogged a mile on the treadmill. It took a while to complete, and  my joints weren’t happy with me the next day, but I felt accomplished. 

The last mile I jogged was when I was forced to for high school gym class. I didn’t want to, I didn’t like it and I didn’t understand why people actually enjoyed running or jogging. 

I’ve been interspersing a minute or two while on the treadmill since the beginning of December, and will continue increasing the amount of jogging to reach my goal.

While a 5K seems kind of daunting right now, I’m sure once I’ve done it I’ll want to do more road races. I’m pretty positive however, that I will never be enticed to run a marathon after watching two of my cousins suffer through the heat of the 2007 Chicago Marathon, and two others running different marathons, and all four vowing they’d never do it again.    — Emma Bouthillette