Yesterday I felt the desire to make a reappearance at my Tuesday night gym class at 24 Hour Fitness.  I have two classes that I like to think I am a ‘regular’ at— a strength & endurance class and a shadow boxing class.  They are a great complement to my running and help me be a better runner by strengthening my core and upper body.  Problem is, I haven’t been to the boxing class for two months until last night.  

Not because I haven’t had the time.  But because it scares me.  

Every. single. time.  

The class is a combination of full throttle boxing/boot camp/plyometrics/athletic drills.  The instructor is a 5 foot tall ball of energy who doesn’t accept anything less than 100% effort.  Kinda like a petite drill sergeant.  She’s ruthless.  It is 45 minutes of pure physical exhaustion and pain, followed by 15 minutes of torturous ab work. 

Everytime I sit there waiting for class to start, I get nervous.  I am willingly signing myself up for pain.  And everytime, during the middle of doing 3 minutes of constant pushups and burpees, I ask myself why I’m subjecting myself to it.  I can easily run for 60 minutes.  But this…..this is torture.

And I love it.

Yes, there were times I thought I might fall over and pass out.  But also times when I looked in the mirror and thought “yeah, i could knock someone out with my left hook”.  It makes me feel powerful and strong.