No pain, no gain

It's been so long since I've been what I would consider physically fit, I've almost forgotten what it felt like.
Almost.
Which is not to say that I'm a physical wreck. I'm just suffering the ravages of a couple of decades of too much food and not enough acitivity. I can still walk a couple of miles without getting winded and haul my BMW motorcycle up onto its centerstand with relative ease, but I'm nowhere near as fit as I need/want to be.
There was a time, back around 1980 - Jeez, that's 27 years ago! - that I was in the best shape of my life. I was working in downtown Indianapolis and had a membership in a fitness center a few blocks from the office. I developed a habit of working out five days a week - strength training on Nautilus equipment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and aerobics on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I got good results and felt great. After a few months, I was doing the full weight stack on several of the machines.
Then the owners of the place sold out and transferred my membership to a club on the far side of town, making my lunchtime workouts a thing of the past. I tried to keep up a routine, but it was just too much of a hassle and I finally gave up and went back to beer, pizza and TV.
Over the years, I've made a couple of feints in the direction of getting back into my fitness zone. I joined a couple of fitness centers, but never made it stick. An apartment complex where I lived in the early to mid-1990s had a workout room, but I couldn't get into the habit of using it.
But now that I'm just weeks from becoming eligible for Social Security benefits (I turn 62 on July 14), I realize it's now or never. That's what drove me to drag Maria along on a doctor-supervised weight loss program at the first of the year. I've lost more than 30 pounds since Jan. 1 and Maria is about 25 pounds lighter.
We've been shedding pounds, but it's largely because of the drugs and diet. We've pretty much ignored the exercise part of the equation.
Well, no more.
Maria's newspaper publisher is picking up the enrollment fee for any employee or family member who wants to join a local fitness center and I signed both of us up today. Maria is resisting fiercely, for reasons I can't fathom.
But I'm charging ahead. My first session and orientation with a trainer is at 10 a.m. tomorrow and I am acutely aware that the quality of what's left of my life is at stake.
I'll let you know how it goes.