Pleasure and Pain

Today was exercise in two halves, first came the pleasure and then later came the pain... not the usual order of the world but for me it was.
I started at lunchtime with a Pilates class, my first since the embrarassing incident about 9 years ago when I tried Pilates and fell asleep mid way through - awkward!!
Now I have a motivation though, by doing this class it will help my flexibiltiy (standard) and also my running by strenthening my core (this is where I became interested in a more selfish way). Another advantage to the class is that I can do in my lunchbreak, you don't require a shower afterwards and it made me so chilled out I was ebven singing to myself at the my desk this afternoon - something I am sure has never happened before. Maybe Pilates is the way forward? We shall see, but lets hope I am able to keep it up and then maybe one day I will be capable of the impossible... touching my toes!
The evening a different kind of challenge, the weekly track training (this only being week 2). The merciless wind and rain that has tormented us all week would have been enough to put me off but by the time I was ready to head to the track there was no rain and the wind had eased up some so no room for excuses. The closest I came to an excuse was the wet patch on my running tights from a leaky sports drink, not great but not enough to stop me.
Today's session was 800m repeats - eeeek, not as far as last week but harder effort for the increased pace. The turnout was good again, almost doubling with 21 PWRs in attendance plus two timekeepers. The reps were tough and once again I found myself at the back of the pack but with a bit more company this time. I decided that it didn't matter that I wasn't as fast, I was there and I was doing the right pace for me, my splits were very consistent with little between each lap so all in all a good session, tougher than Pilates, more painful than Pilates but maybe more rewarding overall. I'd go with the pain over pleasure when it comes to working out every time - I think the satisfaction is greater, not to say a chill out session of Pilates won't be required on a more regular basis though.