Busy 24 hours!

I woke up this morning feeling pretty rough. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night even though I was totally exhausted - my body was very very sore. Finally about a quarter to two, I got up and downed 800mg of ibuprofin - and sweet relief came shortly after! Unfortunately, I had to wake up. :)

I was afraid that my workout this morning was going to be extremely difficult, but I was surprised at what I was capable of (for the second time in 24 hours!) and progressed through my warmup, more squats with arm weights against the xball on the wall, and some complicated plank/lunge/step up moves on the step block. We then moved to free weights and worked my upper body (chest and back) with presses and upright rows, then finished off the set with dead lifts to strenghen the lower back. (Breathe and repeat) I really enjoyed this morning! I made it through the entire 30 minutes without feeling sick at all! Yay!! I'm truly amazed at how quickly I'm improving in stamina. I didn't fall asleep in my chair this morning, at least!

As I mentioned before, this morning was the second time I'd surprised myself in 24 hours; the first surprise was last night during my lesson on Tokio with Sarah. I was pretty sore in my quads and in my posterior regions, so I fully expected to fatigue quickly and asked that we work on the stuff that would require the most effort and strength right away. Well we did, and I never fatigued!! I finished my lesson on a very high note, and still felt capable of doing more!

We worked last night on using half halts at the trot to balance and create throughness in his back, and I had some really nice quarter and half circles! Dad was there to video, so I'm hoping that he caught some of those moments for me to see. He asked me one time why we ride horses like that - seeing as how it's so difficult to learn to put all the pieces together. My answer at the time was that it was the communication with the animal, the experience of the ride, and the challenge of learning to do it all correctly. My answer to that same question last night would have been simply "because it feels like I'm floating." :) I'm starting to understand how to put myself and the horse together, hold it together in a non-forceful way, and sense what minor changes to make to maintain it for more than 3 strides. My last two lessons have been tremendous breakthroughs for me!

I really want to thank all my sweet family and friends for the words of encouragement you've sent me after reading yesterday's post. Tiff, Aunt Janet, Mom, KK, Sarah, Sharon, Katie, Julie, Patty, and Leslie - your support is essential to me, and I hope that I can repay you for it in some small way.

Also, Congratulations to some of my very favorite people are in order!! First, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mason Russell Blalock and congrats to Mom and Dad, Jessica and Kyle! And a huge Hey!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! congrats to Gared and Shawna who got engaged!!!!!!! I'm sooooo very happy for you all! Jessica and Kyle - I can't wait to meet the little man, and Shawna, cruise? Soon? Please? Yay!!!