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Shakopee Community Education is teaching this 12-week class for the third consecutive year and I have signed on for this season.

Last night was the first session and, after talking about goals, etc., we had a weigh-in and had our body mass index (BMI) measured. (Not telling; let's just say I need to tone up more than a bit).

Near the end of the session, we got to our feet and learned the correct way to do squats, lunges and push-ups -- of which we did 15 repetitions of each. I knew I was out of shape, but I didn't know how far out of shape I had gotten until my legs began to scream at me from being used.

When I got home, I went upstairs to get the dogs out of their kennels and, on the trip back downstairs, my now shaky rubberband-like legs nearly caused me to lunge to the bottom so I squatted down for a second before pushing myself up and slowly catching up with those dogs waiting at the back door.

I don't know how this happened. I once powerwalked the Chicago Marathon for goodness sakes. I'm supposed to do three sets of 15 of these every day now but my legs won't stop shaking and my chest feels like I've been using the tow rope instead of the chair lift.

A friend of mine wants me to join her for a 5K in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day weekend. I hope I am no longer sitting on the steps crying by then.

Oh, yeah, and we had to go home and throw away some empty-calorie item that we otherwise would have eaten at some point. I put mine in the trash bag and took the bag out to the trash can in the garage for safe measure. Then I woke up this morning only to discover that cookies had mysteriously appeared in my pantry overnight, courtesy of my husband's stop at the all-night grocery on his way home from work.

I think I have a long, bumpy road ahead of me.