My First Hurdle

I've been handling this new fitness routine and lean eating like a champ. Like Rocky. I've even sang the theme song a time or two after finishing a workout. (seriously. try it. you'll feel 10 feet tall.) I'm on week five and currently in first place in a weight loss competition. I should have known that something would throw a wrench in my progress.
Friday the fam and I went to a local park to take advantage of the wonderful snow and do some sledding. I'm thinking 'yeah, this will be fun and extra exercise trekking back up the hill!' I'm in position for my first run and a lady next to us says, "Oh that's a good spot. No one's hit a tree all day." Ummm...give me 30 seconds and I'll change that. I wish the hubby had video taped it. Seriously. One second I'm about to hit a tree, the next I'm flat on my back with hubby standing over me. Luckily I stopped myself with my foot. UN-luckily I sprained my ankle. My first thought was....crap...crap. crap. crap. How in the crap am I going to do P90X, one of the most high impact workouts I've ever done, with a sprained ankle?
I was in so much pain that night but I don't think that was the reason I cried. I was mad because I finally had so much momentum going. I had that drive to succeed, the will-power to follow through. I had tunnel vision and the light at the end was my skinny jeans. I thought, this is it. This is what is going to throw me off course and send me back to the kitchen scrounging for chocolate.
So I gave myself a day of rest and thankfully the next day the swelling wasn't too bad and mobility much improved. This morning I made hubby dig out an old ankle brace and gave 'er a go. It wasn't bad. I hobbled through parts of the workout but still broke a sweat. Then, this afternoon, I felt myself being anxious to workout again (to make up for yesterday's missed session) and it hit me. YES! I've still got it! I'm still motivated! I'm still moving! I guess it's easy to be motivated when the workouts are getting easier and I'm winning a contest but to work through an injury, well, I'm just pretty dang proud of myself.
There's a deeper level to me that I've lost somewhere along the way. Three days into Army boot camp I sprained my ankle. Instead of telling anyone and risk getting held back for a few weeks, I toughed it out. I ran about 20 miles on it and did a road march with full ruck sack and gear. I dug deep and kept going. I think I touched on that a little today. I know it's still there, the will and the force to tough stuff out, but it's just been lost for a long time.

It's a good feeling to find a little piece of me.