Tales of the Gym

I've worked out the last three days. Consequently, my legs are incredibly sore and crampy, partly from my being out of shape, and partly because I hate bananas and refuse to eat them.* There's always avocado, as far as potassium-rich, cramp-killing produce goes, but I suspect inhaling large quantities of guacamole with corn chips (I can't not do this when I buy avocados) is more than a little counterproductive. Instead, I will eat my usual food and fret that the pain in my leg indicates imminent Death by Birth Control (I could kill the individual who "helpfully" linked me to an article about the nuvaring being dangerous in a you'll-stroke-out-and-die kind of way).**

Soreness-induced hypochondria notwithstanding, I think I'm hitting my stride where the whole working out thing is concerned. I'm still sticking to the elliptical, as my hips*** continue to have off days (I've been getting pinched nerves that are pretty epically awful) and Matt has been too busy house-hunting and playing Dragon Age to go swimming with me. I'm also enjoying some new reading material while there. I've found that books that are around two hundred pages long are just the right size for the little reading shelves on the display, and have liberally stocked up from the social sciences section of the library branch that's located right near the gym I frequent. I still have my nook, of course, but turning it on means acknowledging how dreadfully far behind I am in the Victorian literature challenge I'm working on.**** I've found that shiny new reading material helps to motivate me to go.

My main gym-related challenged these days involve finding time to go. My work hours haven't gotten longer, but they have become progressively less conducive to hitting the gym afterwards (especially since I do 90% of the cooking around here), and we all know how I feel about getting up early. I'm hoping that a potential shiny new job that's located closer to my gym will help matters. I really want to get back in shape, and I'm sort of hoping that taking off some weight will help with the hip thing.

We'll see, I guess.

*The list of dietary idiosyncrasies grows ever-longer.
**It was pretty uncool. The nuvaring is the only kind of hormonal birth control I can take without turning into a moody-riffic freak show. More so than usual. It's not pretty. Also, I throw up a lot.
***I don't recall if I've ever mentioned it here, but I was born with double hip dysplasia (thanks, Cherokee heritage!). I'm very lucky in that I haven't had mobility issues thus far; however, I do occasionally get pinched nerves when the cells slip into the backside of my hip joint. It probably goes without saying that it hurts like hell.
****Freakin' Vanity Fair.