I recently joined a local gym and have only used it during morning hours... except for tonight. After work I came home and all I wanted to do was lay down and take a nap, however, that little voice that told me that I was never going to hit my goal by laying around on the couch kicked in. So I went to the gym. I usually start out with a one mile walk to warm up a little and began my walk like always. After a couple of laps this woman came in and got in front of me. I couldn't see her face but I knew she looked familiar. She sped up and I kept on at my normal pace. After I had finished my mile I began doing my cool-down stretches and got a good look at the woman. It was none other than my evil stepmom (and I use the term evil mildly). This is a woman who single-handidly stripped my father of all his manhood and broke him to the point where even though he lives only five miles away NEVER stops in to visit me, let alone his only grandchild. Anyways, she recognized me and looked surprised before saying "I didn't know that was you!". Not wanting to be rude but at the same time not wanting to stand there and converse with her... I simply said "I hate to mess you up while your walking, it was good seeing you (yeah right)" and walked out the door. I hate that I have these hostile feelings towards her but there is too much history there to get into and I don't put all the blame on her, my father is also at fault. Anyways, just wanted to share that little moment. Next time I think I'll just stick to mornings.

Amy

Oh honey that sound awful! You handled yourself graceful because I would have been tempted to slap her or call her something mean.. I can understand the feelings of hostility because my parents divorced after a marriage of 25 years, it was all my dad's doing and 6 months later he had a girlfrienc... hang in there and do something sweet for yourself (like take a bath or watch a girly movie)... You deserve it and congrats on getting yourself to the gym! I guess this means you'll be sticking with morning time?

Thanks for your words of encouragement . Yeah, I'll probably be sticking to morning workouts, but I'm not going to rule out an afternoon/evening workout. Not even the experience of running into my stepmom can keep me from reaching my goal... thank God it's a big gym, LOL. One of these days I'm going to have to come to terms with my feelings about her. I could extend the olive branch but I think I burned that bridge along time ago, but who knows? Miracles happen all the time right?!? It's just disheartening and I don't even take comfort in the fact that the reason I didn't realize who she was at first was b/c she has gained a lot of weight. I don't wish fatness or poor health on anyone, not even her.

Amy

Oh I almost forgot to mention I noticed that we have almost the exact same goal! How are you losing the weight? I had lost down to 160 back in early March-April of last year but gained it back b/c it wasn't really a healthy way I was doing it. Now I'm determined to go at it full swing ahead, exercise, healthy eating, the works! Feel free to PM me sometime if you feel like celebrating or just need to vent. Way to go on your loss!

Amy

Hi,
Just remember that both you and evil stepmom are there with the same goal of exercising and a simple Hello should be enough. After all she may not want to spend time talking either. Don't let anyone keep you from the gym at any time you chose to go. You go girl! Good luck.