It hurts and stuff.

I am reminded today that I didn't even mention my morning yesterday at the gym. No, the exercise physiologist did not call up to ask about the omission, but every muscle in my body seems to be reminding me of the effects – naproxen notwithstanding.
The walking, biking and ellipticalling was similar to last week's evening workout, but the morning-after exercise hangover hit me a lot harder. It may be because I'm catching Becky's cold that she brought home from work.
Never being one to take a sick day, I'm muddling through, trying not to contact other people and frequently washing my hands and using hanitizer, as our granddaughter Emma likes to call it.
My propensity to work through illness may stem from my youth when my small-town-family-doctor father used to give us a hard time if we tried stay home from school for the slightest sniffle.
“Go to school, it's good for business,” Dad would say in his gruffest. He was not serious of course, but it taught me to be tough, maybe. His other favorite advice was dolled out on what to do for a cold or other non-curable condition: Suffer.
Maybe that's why I was drawn to journalism where our primary job is to strip things to the core truths and present that truth without sugar coating.
Sugar coating that is not on my healthy heart diet.
Building on yesterday's vigorous morning workout, I focused more on diet. I had not gotten on the scale Monday until I realized I had finished my morning pound and a half of coffee. That's one 24 ounce cup, for fellow journalists and other math-impaired.
I was down another pound to 207 this morning – before coffee.
It was Valentine's Day, so I knew I had to stop after the gym workout for a card, flowers and another token or two of my affection. I also needed some lunch.
Note to self: Noon is not a good time to go to the HealthStyles gym. The entire staff, along with the physical therapy specialists were taking their lunch hours. Sweet fragrance of takeout wafted through the air.
I knew I could get lunch, cards, flowers and gifts at a Richland supermarket, so that was my next stop. I've never done the salad that way, and was shocked when it rang up at $8. It didn't seem like a pound and three quarters until I started actually eating it, trying to practice guest speaker William Clower's advice from the Feb. 5 Heart Ball (see Feb. 7 installment below) about taking time to enjoy the food and eating in control. I also thought about Tonya Spada-Dixon's quote when she told me, "Overeating healthy can become unhealthy."
I actually carried most of it out with me, had more last night with two small, but probably not healthy slices of Becky's homemade pizza and have the rest waiting in the fridge.
Today is a busy non-heart-month workday, but I did schedule a couple of interviews for later in the week. We joined our fellow East Hills Kiwanis Club members for lunch, which for me was my usual salad bar with a little soup.
Becky and I did think about getting an early start on the day and heading back to the gym today, but our colds made that seem very unattractive, if not impossible.
Actually, it could be a good thing. I tend to lose my appetite when I'm sick. If I can just resist the post-cold hungers.