Thursday, October 11, 2012

Exercising + Motherhood

 
Ahh, such a sweet face. :)  But I'm actually going to refrain from talking about my little cutie pants boy to talk about exercise, more specifically, running!
 
During my preggo & pre-preggo days I was pretty active with soccer, yoga, cycling, any sort of group or team exercise--count me in!  I love social exercising & even more, I love the feeling of doing something active.  I was fortunate to be able to do cycling and yoga until I was 38 weeks pregnant and I can't say enough about exercising during pregnancy- it kept me feeling good & energetic (and there's the added plus of not gaining too many baby pounds!)
 
You can imagine the conundrum I was in 6 weeks post-baby when I realized I could no longer go to cycling class or yoga class with a baby in arm! What to do, what to do.  I considered doing a work out DVD, but can never seem to keep myself accountable to doing those consistently. 
I also considered running, but hated the idea.  Yes, I love exercising, but I hate running, or at least running just for the sake of running.
 
After spinning my wheels & trying to come with other things that would work for me, I eventually came back to running. It's something I can easily do with a baby, anytime & basically, anywhere & we have this really great jogging stroller that I hoped would fool people into thinking I was a runner, but had never actually used for running.  When I made the decision to start running, I immediately signed up for a local 5K (something I've never done), knowing that if I didn't have a goal like that to reach toward, I would never keep up with it.  I also enlisted the help of my husband, again, I knew I would need some extra accountability for this one.  He LOVED the idea & has always wanted me to run with him so he was all in!
 
We've been at it for about a month or so  now & I can now run for 30 minutes straight! Something I haven't done in I don't know how long.  It's been great so far, I can't say that I love running yet, but I do love spending time exercising as a family (such a blessing!) and I love the way I feel after finishing a run
 
 
3 more weeks 'til race day!  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  In the meantime, if you're like me & having a hard time figuring out the best way to workout in the midst of life & all it's busyness & challenges, I just wanted to send some encouragement your way!  Set some goals, get some accountability & have fun with it!  This has been a huge part of our family time lately & has blessed us in more ways than keeping us healthy & fit.  :)

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