Fun and excitement exercising

I thought I purchased the elliptical exerciser at that garage sale last year to keep me flexible and energized. For sure I did not buy it because I had fallen in love with exercising.. I dread exercising. I hated gym as a child. I endured phys ed as a high schooler and plodded my way through required classes in college. I found a lot of excuses to avoid a therapeutic walk around the block as an adult.
When the topic came up in polite conversation I told folks I had an allergy to exercise, it made me break out in a sweat.
But, as the years crept up on me, little things caused me to re-think my allergy. Little things like the swelling and stiffness that flared up in my knee from too much sitting last spring. It still nagged me when I flew to Pennsylvania to visit my son and his family. The knee made itself known when I moved it, but I persisted in participating in the visit. I creaked and squeaked during our walk up and down the rolling hills of our community en route to their favorite park. I gritted my teeth before taking the four flights of stairs we had to transverse to check out their Victorian home.
I had endured the pain and realized great gain. I came home with a cured knee.
I began shopping for an exercise routine to counteract all the hours I spent in front of a computer at the office. I needed an exercise routine I liked and would follow.
We picked up a very used tread mill and a hardly used elliptical exerciser. I tried both. It really did not matter which I used, both machines took me nowhere fast for one 30 minutes or two 15 minute sessions most every day. To distract myself I watched television, viewed videos, listened to audio tapes and read books and magazines. I wound up preferring and using the elliptical exerciser.
Three granddaughters came last week and showed me what I was missing.
First off, I was missing the fun and excitement of having children in the house — and the exercise of caring for them. The more minors in the house, the m ore cooking, cleaning and running around to get things done.
I also was missing the fun of sharing my space, my stuff and my time.
To make sleeping space for girls, I had to revert the exercise room back into a bedroom again. I rearranged a lot of storage space in the laundry room. I thought it would be a bulky inconvenience in the girls’ bedroom.
I should have left it there. Within hours of their arrival, they figured out that if one stood on one foot rest and another on the other foot rest they could pull the handles and make it go up and down.
They created their own little carnival ride, laughing and giggling all the way. The thrill of the ride lasts as long as they want, with virtually no waiting.
Other times, they simply take the machine on alone. The other day I discovered the youngest, an almost first grader straddling the feet rests, holding onto the stationary handle bars and pedaling away with sheer joy. I looked closer. She was pedaling away at twice my usual speed and laughing all the way.
I should find exercise so much fun.