Forrest Gump I Am Not

I went to the Y the other day and the ladies at the front desk paid me a compliment every woman wants to hear, "You look like you've lost weight."  It made me feel really good and super confident!  For some reason, right before I walk into the cardio room, I get really nervous.  I have to take a deep breath and just go for it.  But after that compliment, I was good to go!

I've recently challenged myself to up the ante, if you will.  I get bored doing the same things all the time.  I wanted to see what I was really capable of; though knowing full well I haven't even begun to skim the surface.  Usually I do a cardio/fat burn on the elliptical, however I've recently changed it to pure fat burn.  (Essentially that means, you enter in your weight, age and how long you want to work out, and it calculates what your heart rate should be.  It also will increase or decrease resistance based on my current heart rate.)  The machine tells me I should be at 122 bpm, but I'm usually in the 150's; 160's if I'm really booking it.  I usually "run" my first mile within 11 minutes.  My total workout time of 45 minutes yields 3.5 miles.  I consider that to be good for me, but I know I can do better. 

The other night I was watching episodes of "The Office".  I knew people love that show, but I didn't fully appreciate just how funny it was until then!  I was cracking up!!  This lady next to me kept glarring at me with her eyes, as if to tell me to knock it off.  Give me a break!  I ignored her and kept on peddling. 

I always tell people I don't run unless someone is chasing me.  However, I was in the best shape of my life when I was running for soccer in high school.  Logic tells me that's what I should be doing, but boy it sure hurts my knees, shins and back!  Any advice, runners?  What's a girl to do?