Phil texted me yesterday and asked if I could come in at 7 instead of 5. That wasn’t a problem for me so it was cool to change the time. I get in to Barwis and one of the camera crew is in the lobby and he greets me and asks if it is cold enough out there for me. I tell him with a groan that I am going to kill that groundhog. I have to sign a waiver before I start working because they are filming at Barwis. I sign the paper with that same camera crew guy. I apologized for having to move his hand over because I am left-handed. He told me that he was left-handed as well. Yay! I don’t know a lot of left-handers. No one in my immediate family (my parents and brothers) are. My niece and nephew are and my son is not. We exchanged facts about left-handed people in the US; it was fun.
I get into the training area and it seems like a different place. I am used to coming in to train with a bunch of high school athletes and kids. There were a lot fewer people there because it was so late compared to when I am used to coming in at 5. Larry was putting weights away and wiping things down. I told Phil that it was kind of weird to be there with a bunch of adults. I am used to being the “old chick in the chair” which what I think these high school kids would perceive me as. The music was even different from it is when I am with the younger kids. ( And I’m old enough to call them “kids”).
Phil begins stretching me out and I ask how I feel. He says “tight” and I tell him about Friday night going to bed and how my legs “boing”ed. I told him that I was visualizing him telling me to relax. He does that ALL THE TIME. He tells me to “just relax” like it is easy for me oe something. He told me last night that it is a mindset. I know he is right but I don’t know that my mind is set for that. He tells me to stand and I do. It was difficult and I had to fight to remain standing. I stood for a while and then he had me sit and he stretched me some more. I stood again and it felt better. I told him that I could stand for days. I found that spot where both of my feet were flat on the ground and I found the balance. It feels nice to get that feeling. I think that is what able-bodied people feel. I don’t remember. I didn’t “stand for days” but I stood an even longer while. Then I sat and got stretched. It’s amazing how necessary that is for me to get this done just to stand. It’s kind of sad. I’m glad I am able to get it done. It was now time to do squats. The squats have morphed into a quick succession of reps where I count them out (saying *BINK* before each number of course!). I did 5 1/8 the first set and 7 3/8 the second set. I told Phil that was a total of 12 1/2. That was exciting! My last set was 11 7/8. So I did a total of 24 3/8 squats? (remember – I teach reading and used to teach English).
Then we went over to the table to do leg extensions and curls. I di well at those and was offering substantial resistance in my opinion. Phil ended by working my ankles and having me turn them out. That STILL is difficult! As I was getting my stuff together to leave, a song comes on and I smiled really big because it is a song Sean turns up and dances to EVERY TIME he hears it in the car and encourages me to dance with him. When Phil took me out to my car he told me that I did a good job and put his fist out to fist bump me. I felt pretty good about my performance as well. It wasn’t stellar but I think I felt SO good because my legs got stretched. So I grabbed his fist and shook it around and yelled, “joystick!” (Which is something he taught me).