"I've Fallen, and I Can't Get Up!!"

Bonnie St. John is a one legged downhill skier. In the 1984 Paralympics, she was ahead in the slalom, when she fell on an icy patch. She got up and finished her run. It ended up that all skiers in that race that day fell on the exact same spot. Bonnie had the best time up to that spot. But, she came in second place in that race, and another skier won the gold. I found a quote from Bonnie St. John on the internet about that race: “I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.”

No, I have neither become a recent amputee, nor have I joined the US Olympic Ski Team. I can relate to Bonnie St. John, because I have fallen. A lot.

Those of you who read my blogs regularly know that I started to lose my footing at Halloween, but managed to regain my balance and get back on track using several Peter K tools for success. Unfortunately, Peter K is not an alarm system I can stick in my refrigerator every time I open it looking for a bad snack, or an app for my iPhone that can just whack me in the head every time I buy a candy bar from the local newsstand. And left to my own devices most of the time, I’ve discovered that I have horrible balance.

I slipped again at Thanksgiving, where the girl who has lost 70 pounds and has gone from “Fat Girl” to “Fit Girl” was asked to bring all the desserts (my hosts weren’t being mean. To be honest, I am one of the best amateur bakers I know. Just ask me :-). Surrounded by my own delicious (or as my daughter says, “delumptious”) creations, I ate.

Instead of choosing to get up quickly, I stayed down for all of December. There was the holiday party at work that was nothing short of decadent. Then I decided that Channukah meant 8 days of eating non-stop. After that my mom and I hosted a Christmas dinner party we named “Two Jews Making a Ham,” which again spotlighted more of my amazing desserts. To top it off, my sister, daughter and mother’s birthdays are December 29th, 30th, and January 2nd respectively. This has meant cake, cake, and cake. Yeah, I have definitely fallen.

I’ve fallen down in terms of exercise, too. Last week, my daughter was off from school and I took the week off from work to be home with her, which meant that I was unable to go to the gym. I intended to run in the mornings before my husband left for work, but then we got hit with a blizzard that crippled my town and left roads “un-runable” (and for all I pay in taxes, you’d think that my town could cough up the cash for a second snow plow. Geesh). I did use my resistance bands every morning, but that’s it. No running, biking, swimming, nothing.

My biggest problem, though was that I hadn’t realized how bad I had fallen, or how long I had been down. I was completely oblivious. Yes, my pants got a little tighter, I got headaches from eating all that sugar, my kids looked at me funny every time I’d offer them cookies as a snack. But, I didn’t think anything was amiss until last night.

Last night my husband, Wil, asked me what my workout was going to be today. The deal that Wil and I have is that he is willing to be a “single parent” on the weekends until 8 AM, meaning that I can run, bike, even climb Mt. Kilimanjaro if I want to, as long as I’m home by 8 o’clock. When Wil asked me about the workout, my brain was as empty as my expression. I had no clue. I had nothing planned. I had thought about replacing the healthy multigrain fruit waffles I make for everyone with chocolate chip ones covered in whipped cream, but working out? No, that wasn’t on my agenda.

Wil suggested I go for a run in the morning, and I responded by telling him where he could put my running shoes. I stormed into the kitchen, and looked around. My once unhealthy and then quite healthy kitchen was full of cookies, brownies, Olivia’s leftover birthday cake. That’s when I realized that not only had I fallen, but I had been down for quite a while. It was time to get back up.

This morning I did my resistance bands and a 6.5 mile run (clearly I did not put my running shoes where I told Wil I would). Afterwards, I went to Weight Watchers and faced that damned scale that seemed to be creaking under my weight, and I swear heaved a sigh of relief when I stepped off of it.

Today is the last day of 2010. Yes, I’ve definitely fallen, but I am ready to get back up, right now. Are you?