Ouch!

Everyone likes to hear a good story about someone else getting hurt right? Or does my profession leave me with a weird sense of what's normal??? You can guess where this post is headed though, can't you? Too many questions, story time...

So I've stayed up late, after a loooong day at work, and I'm tired, time to head for bed. I'm padding around the apartment barefoot, on a quest to collect the book I'm currently reading and shut off all the lights. When I take a corner too sharp and slam my baby toe into the base of my elliptical. (What do you mean I never mentioned buying an elliptical, that is not the story, focus people, focus!) As I said, I slam my toe into the foot of the elliptical and it doesn't budge. The elliptical doesn't budge, my toe unfortunately tries to squish itself into the smallest size possible. Not a good feeling. So, instinct kicks in, I grab my foot with both hands, start hopping up and down in pain.... and suddenly, I remember, I'm living in an apartment. Whoever is below me probably doesn't appreciate the jumping (they SHOULD appreciate that I'm not yelling... ) So I stop jumping and instead swiftly hobble to my room and sit on the bed so I can continue to hold tight to my foot... without jumping. Having broken my other baby toe once, ten years ago, stubbing it on a stray toolbox, that also didn't have the decency to move when hit by a little toe, I began wondering if this one was also nicely damaged. So I let go and looked at it. Looks pretty normal from on top. Then I looked at the bottom, normal... the tip though... that was a bright red blood blister. (Aren't you proud of me for not taking pictures?? You know I was tempted... You know I still might.) So for now, said foot is wrapped in a towel and icepack. Honestly, I think I'm overreacting. But MAN did that hurt!

So, while I wait until it's numb enough to take off the icepack, I'll tell you about the elliptical. I've been thinking for a while that I need to be more pro-active about being active. But I just can't convince myself that going to the gym is a good thing. If I have to get all gross and sweaty, I'll do it in my own home, thank-you-very-much! Plus, I'm much more likely to do something if the extra effort of leaving the house isn't involved. So I found a good deal on Ellipticals online (at Sears) and decided to order one. I'm not proud of how much I was willing to pay in shipping, but lets just say the sale price was balanced by the shipping, so it's not too bad. It arrived on Tuesday, not to my house, but to "First Air Cargo". I hemmed and hawed about whether I should pick it up myself or ask for some help. I was reasonably certain it would be a big box, and fairly heavy. But I'm stronger than most people realize, and I figured I should be able to manage with a taxi to take me home. So I did my downtown errands (check mail, get groceries) and got a taxi to the cargo area, asking him to wait outside while I grabbed something. The guy inside carried it all the way to the taxi and seemed fine. No problem! The taxi driver had to help me get it out of his trunk. I carried it by the plastic strips all the way to the door of the building (hey, it's a long ramp!). Once inside, it became a combo of carry and drag. By the time I was in the apartment, it only got right in front of my entrance hall, and there it sat for a day. Until I dragged it into my bedroom, and there it sat since I was uncertain where I wanted to put it.

I finally put it together on Saturday. Putting one together should be considered a workout in itself. But so much fun. I could put stuff like that together every day. I love the step by step, "now use these bolts to connect piece A and piece B" stuff. LOVE it! Honestly. I buy things you have to assemble just for the fun of it. So I'm putting it together, and I get to the part where the foot bar needs to connect to the arm bar, and hit a snag. The bolt doesn't go all the way through because the pieces aren't exactly right. With about 20 min of pulling, pushing, attempted twisting (metal doesn't bend with bare hands, imagine that!), pulling and pushing at the same time, hammering, pulling pushing and hammering... I finally made everything fit, by putting the bolt in backwards and reefing on it with the hammer while pulling one piece and pushing on the other. No wonder they recommend having a second person to help put it together. lol!

It all went smooth after that. I tried it out last night. Now, I can't say why I chose to buy an elliptical, I don't believe I've ever actually tried that particular piece of exercise equipment before. After my first minute on it, I was wondering why I bought this, it's not giving me a workout at all! Five minutes into it, I'm wondering if maybe I'm using it wrong. Eight minutes in I'm slowing down a bit, this is a workout! Twelve minutes in I think it might be time to stop, it's starting to make my muscles sore and I do need to work the next day, without pain. So I bailed, and maybe I'll have to work my way up to a proper workout. Oh, and I settled for putting it behind the couch so I can see the tv while working out (possible incentive to use it?). Plus, it barely sticks out further than the desk that's beside it, so there's not too much danger of stubbing my toe on it!