Step by step

The funny thing about starting to exercise is how much it costs. It might have been cheaper if I had relied on good ol' willpower to get me off my butt and into some kind of routine, but let's face it: I know my own strengths, and self-motivation to exercise? Not one of them.

So I resorted to spending money into admittedly well-researched fitness classes and was completely prepared for the sucking effect that would have on my bank account. What Ididn't anticipate was how much I'd have to spend on T-shirts, shorts, sports bras and shoes.

I had no choice about getting new shoes, since my previous pair had fallen to pieces from disuse in the interim between Terz convincing me to learn to play tennis (circa 1998) and the present. In fact, the shoes I bought a year ago, but didn't get around to using regularly till the latter half of this year. Now they get taken out at least once a week, and I think they're pretty happy about it.

T-shirts and shorts --- now there's something I never used to think about. I have tons of both, but they're the kind that I throw on when I need to flop down to the provision shop or coffeeshop at the next block to get something. I admit I'd be hard-pressed to even wear them to the market because most of them are very old, very worn, and very liable to make me look immediately like a HDB auntie.

So when it comes to scrounging T-shirts and shorts to wear for an exercise class or just to run in, my wardrobe was a dead end. I had to go shopping. And do you know how hard it is to get nondescript T-shirts/shorts that aren't paper-thin, shapeless or in obnoxious colours? It's taken me several months to painstakingly piece together three sets of comfortable, affordable dark-coloured clothing that are suitable for some form of fitness activity and don't carry massive logos all over them.

Sports bras were actually the easiest and just about the least expensive to acquire.

But now I'm set. I've got shoes, I've got clothes and I've got a routine. Plus today I ran 3.5 km without stopping --- 3.5 km! Considering that six months ago I was dying after doing less than 2 km, I think I'm allowed to preen a little. The next step, as I've told Sprite, is to maintain, repeat and improve.

It occurred to me, as I got back from my 3.5 km mini-triumph today, that there are two things I can do after work: go out and drink, or come home and run. Both give their own highs. It's a tough choice, really.