Up until January of 2006, I was an aspiring rock star in a promising "neo-soul" band based in the Washington, D.C. area. Really, I think we were poised to "blow up" as they say. Check us out: www.oktbrwrld.com if you don't believe me.. (and uh.. buy a CD while you're over there.. they are QUITE good, if you ask me.

Anyway.. by the time we reached that fork in the road., the road that would lead to quitting day jobs and self supporting through music industry related activities.. well, I, for one, just did not care anymore. I had lost my love for the music. Lost my will to rehearse and perform and promote and create and... shrug. Shit.. it happens. Bottomline.. it just wasn't fun anymore.. was too much work for too little return and I really wondered if I wanted to spend 8 more years running up at that hill.

Anyway.. we took a vacation.. which turned into a haitus... which turned into our toying with the idea of reuniting.. but folks had gone off into their own little dream worlds and I was too busy in my own to corral folks so... I ENJOYED MY LIFE.

I sat on my ass and ate and drank, slept in on weekends, enjoyed my vacation time instead of saving it for band travel. I played ONLY when I wanted to and THAT was VERY little but I had decided that I would give myself a year to DECOMPRESS. To just blow in the breeze... to SEE if the itch to play and LOVE for music would return.

Being HIGHLY obsessive... when the itch did not resurface after 7 months and the LOVE of music was not quite compelling enough to get me to actually PLAY some... I latched onto something NEW.

My partner likes to feed me... and I LIKE to eat... those things coupled with my new sedentary life meant that FRG was carrying a little extra weight. Now MIND YOU... my fighting weight (dating/rockstar weight) is about 135 TOPS... which for a chick at 5'9" is a bit TOO reminiscent of super models and meth heads... so the extra 20 pounds I am rocking really are NOT so extra... but.. I wasn't wearing them like a tailored new suit and that was not working for me...

I KNEW I had to GET FIT. But how?

Gold's Gym has a franchise right across the street from my office.. yeah and? I ain't giving GOLDS crap!! I get healthy and YOU profit.. um.. NAW.. that is too.... um.. anyway...

I needed something that did not require too much cash outlay (or so I thought, but more on that later), something that did not require me to motivate to DRIVE somewhere and be at the whims of OTHER PEOPLE, and something that would make me get off my ass and out of the house. and it hit me.. RUNNING.. perfect.. the sport that you hate.... the thing that you said you would only do if Freddie and Jason and Chucky were CHASING you.. RUNNING.

But... it made sense... the seed sprouted and the last week of July.. I bought some Adidas Supernova Classics from Fleet Feet in Adams Morgan and started a run/walk program.

I am now in week 6 of a 9 week program I found on www.coolrunning.com. Couch to 5k... takes sedentary folks like me..from dipping chips and channel surfing to completing a 5k.. in a little over two months! Amazing? Yes. Impossible? Not so much.

So there it is.. my journey from FunkyGuitarGirl to FunkyRunnerGirl... the journey has begun.

Now, I am under NO illusions that anyone other than me will actually read this.. or want to.. but in my initial throes of getting fit, I had the revelation that getting my BODY together was crucial to getting my MIND and SOUL together... which are not just good preparation for me getting BACK to my muse.. but also for my Commitment Ceremony next summer.

But THAT is another entry.. for another time.