Is It Worth It? Part 2

Well, another week of boot camp has passed, but I couldn't fully let it go without telling a story. Last Wednesday night it was just beginning to sprinkle as we arrived on the track. Now, Ma'am really doesn't care if it is raining or not - you WILL work out. However, the last time it rained she kept us in the gym for an hour and it was a lot like torture and there was much pain and agony as a result of that hour. So, it begins to sprinkle on Wednesday and she lets us know that we are going to do our running first and then if it is still raining we will move in to the gym. At this point let me stop and tell you that there are two things that I do not do well - I don't look good in the rain, my hair turns into a stringy mess. Also, I don't cry pretty - I do the hiccupping, snot-flinging kind of crying. The crying thing is completely irrelevant to this story - just thought I would share! So, my hair has kind of been a problem for me lately and especially with this class because it is two short to pull up into a ponytail and leaving it to hang in my face is quite annoying too. Plus, I use ALOT of hairspray, ya'll. I mean, most days my hair could quite easily sustain 45-50 mph winds and still come through without a single hair out of place. So, back to the story - mix the rain, the stringy hair, and lots of hairspray, and what you have is a mess. This has been an extremely humbling experience for me because I hate for my hair to look a mess. Well, by the time that we finished our run last Wednesday night, I had ditched the hood on my sweatshirt and was looking like a sweaty, rain soaked animal. And that was just from the sprinkling that was going on. By the time we finished running, it was coming down much more steady. But, even still, all of us were begging her to just let us stay out in the rain because we knew what happened in the gym - I think we were all still having nightmares and midnight charley horses from that evening. Well, I think I mentioned before that Ma'am really likes the great outdoors, so she happily agreed to let us continue to work out in the rain. So we began our exercises. When my friend and I arrived at the track that night we had to take our place on a slight hill because that was the only available spot other than the front row and we try to avoid that at all costs! If you will imagine with me a rainy night, a yoga mat, and a hill. Basically, I had my own personal slip-n-slide. Every time I got down for pushups or the dirty dog or elbows and toes, I had to brace myself for the slide. As if that wasn't bad enough I was dirty - I hate being dirty - you know, sticky little pieces of grass and mud on your hands and in your hair and on your legs. Yuck! So, by this point, my hair is drenched and water is dripping off of me. My sweatshirt has been soaked, but I'm scared to take it off because I did not want my T-shirt to be soaked - SCARY! I'm covered with little pieces of mud and grass and the knees of my workout pants are drenched from getting into "front leading rest position". All of that and then the unthinkable happens. Scissor-Kicks. Yep, now I'm flat on my back on my slip-n-slide. By the time we left that night, I looked so pitiful that even Ma'am commented on how wet I was. Is it worth it?

I know this is getting long but since I'm having such a great time laughing at myself in this post I'll take it one step forward and tell you one more story about my hair. Apparently I got into some not-so-nice hair care products and have developed this really disgusting film on my hair. If you have noticed me having some not-so-great hair days, please don't tell me. After some tips from my hair-dresser I went into my shower last night intent on getting this stuff off the ends of my hair. Basically it went like this: mix baking soda and water until you get the consistency of pancake batter - does anyone know how much baking soda this takes - ALOT. Then, wet hair, and then apply pancake batter to your hair and cover with shower cap or whatever and let that eat the yuck off of your hair. I thought I had a shower cap, but apparently I didn't, so I had to take alternative measures. I wet my hair, applied the goop, and then tried to decide what I was going to put on my head to cover it while the eating process began. What I learned was that my head it too big to fit into a gallon size ziploc bag, AND that my family laughs at me when I wrap my head in purple saran wrap. BUT, when it was all said and done and I had washed it all out and conditioned, my hair flowed like the girl's hair in those Suave commercials. It was awesome and I am so happy to have my hair back!