I have a few favorite places in Los Angeles that I knew I wanted to hit up while I was here– Amoeba Records (check!), The Grove (check!), Lemonade (hopefully today) and Simple Things. David and I accidentally found Simple Things while I was “living” here for 2 months last Fall. The restaurant we wanted to go to for lunch was too crowded so we stumbled upon Simple Things. We fell in love with their cute soups, sandwiches and salads and their awesome selection of mini pies.
Yesterday I got the half soup / half sandwich combo with a spicy veggie gazpacho + bbq chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun. Oh and of course I finished off the meal with a warmed up mini blueberry pie. Yum!
Yesterday morning I hit up another old favorite here in LA- Soul Cycle! Yes I know there’s Soul Cycle in New York City too but I can never justify spending the hefty price tag on their cycling classes when there’s other more affordable options in my neighborhood as well… plus I used to work at a cycling studio where I could take classes for free :). While I’m in LA I decided to treat myself to a Soul Cycle class since it’s a tiny bit cheaper here… and one of the few fitness options that’s walking distance from David’s house.
When I took my first ever Soul Cycle class here in LA a year and a half ago I wasn’t exactly a fan of indoor cycling. As a rather spastic person and former dancer the thought of being strapped to a bike made me feel really confined and claustrophobic. Whenever I took a cycling class at a gym I would easily get bored during class and sneak a peak at my watch whenever I could, praying the 45 minutes would go by faster.
That all changed when I took my first Soul Cycle class– suddenly it clicked and I got why people LOVE indoor cycling. It was NOT easy for me though and by the second song I was gasping for air, cursing my burning legs and second guessing how fit I really was (and I thought I was already pretty fit at that point!!).
Taking class yesterday I realized how far I’ve come since my first Soul Cycle class. I wasn’t gasping for air and my legs cooperated. Sure, I was dripping with sweat and my heart was beating like crazy, but it didn’t feel nearly as hard as I remembered it. In the past year and a half I have taken more cycling classes than I can count, trained for and ran my first half marathon, started training for my second half marathon and deepened my knowledge about fitness thanks to a number of certifications and workshops.
Sometimes it’s hard to track how far you’ve come when it isn’t about the pounds. I know my arms are more defined than before and my jeans from high school still magically fit years later, but the class was a nice reminder of how far I’ve come physically in the past year and a half. A class that totally kicked my ass a year and a half ago felt doable now.
Time to go get ready for a run! Sadly it’s my last day here in LA so I’m hoping to make the most of it with David by soaking up the sun and doing some touristy things :). I haven’t seen too many celebrities yet so I gotta get on that!
How do you measure how far you’ve come in your fitness journey?
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