I'll get my exercise any way I can!

Needed to go to Trader Joes today ... so I packed the kids in the Burley trailer and headed out on my bike. 3.8 miles on the way there ... 28 minutes pulling 70 lbs and going up and down hills the whole way! 3.3 miles on the way home (found a shorter route) and I don't know how long it took because I couldn't make it up the 2nd to last hill. Kids had to get out and walk for a couple of blocks. We had one more hill after that and the kids got out again to walk another block. Finally made it home. I'm exhausted but I feel so good! My goal is to keep it up!! Tomorrow I'm going to ride the bike w/ the trailer to the library/park (2.2 miles) and then walk a couple miles around the park with a friend. Yaay!!

a new way to exercise

I find that working out with two kids is near impossible - without a gym membership and/or childcare. I try, I really do, I'll get up at 5:30 3 days a week for pilates - that might go on for a week or a month but eventually I'm burned out. I tried jogging in the stroller with them - I have a flat now and haven't fixed it yet ;) Trying to find time and the energy to do anything in my "spare" time is exhausting and obviously not working!

This past Friday we walked to a house 2 miles away to get lemons. A gal who is apart of my freecycle group and was giving them away for free - yaay, lemonade!! We started out w/ Jonathan (the boy I babysit) in the double stroller (not jogger, cuz remember that one has a flat), Josiah riding his "tractor" and Ellie on her trike. 1/4 of a mile into it Josiah decided he was done so I loaded him up and hooked his tractor onto the stroller. 1/2 mile into it Ellie decided she was tired so with one hand I pushed the boys (about 60 - 70 lbs) and pulled Ellie (her bike has a handle on the back). For the remainder of our walk every time we went uphill I pushed and pulled, every time we went downhill I got a break! The last 1/4 mile I had Ellie in the stroller w/ her trike and Josiah's tractor riding along and Josiah on my back - I felt a bit like a pack mule! By the time we got home I felt amazing and ready to get out there again!

week one exercise

I feel like I did really good last week! Monday and Wednesday I got up early and did a 40 minute pilates video. Tuesday and Thursday I ran 2 miles in 25 minutes (while pushing 50 lbs). I was going to get up early on Friday to do pilates again - but Josiah was up before my alarm went off (5:40). Those darn 2 year molars! Instead I walked 2 miles (40 minutes) w/ another mom while Ellie had her last dance class.

Now I just need to focus on eating healthier! Been having one to many late night snacks the last couple weeks ... or so.

This next weeks goals? Pilates on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Run on Wednesday and Thursday. Play with my family at the zoo on Saturday (dad & mom coming down for a visit this weekend)!

I ran!

After writing about exercise I checked back outside and it wasn't raining anymore It smelled SO fresh and clean out that I just had to get out and run! So once the kids were up I warmed up some frozen pancakes, loaded them up in the stroller and headed out. This was my second run since I got my real running shoes. I did a 2 mile loop in about 25 minutes ... last time I only made it 1.5 miles - so I felt better about finishing the run this time! I had to go up a hill at the 1.5 mile mark and pushing 50 pounds going up a hill is NOT easy - but I just put my head down and pushed through!

One of these days I'm going to push the kids (not run) up tarantula hill ... I'll post a picture of that one when the time comes. It's across the street from my house and it's not easy.

exercise

Since I do not have a gym membership I have to come up with my own things to do for exercise. Sometimes that is exhausting with two kids! Last week I did nothing ... but I have "that time of month" to blame ;) This week I began by planning out what I was going to do ... pilates on Mon, Wed & Fri and running 2 miles on Tues/Thurs. It's raining today, only a light drizzle, but I'm not running. If we lived in Portland or somewhere where it rained A LOT I would go ... but we live in sunny Southern California ... I'm not running. I also don't feel bad ... my plan is my plan - but it's not a law ... and if you really knew me you would know that I create laws all the time for myself and then beat myself up for not keeping them. For instance, I MUST get up @ 5:30 every day to read the Word, prepare for the day (or exercise) and be showered and ready for the kids to be up by 7:30. I did that for awhile ... and that was good. But I'm learning that was a season and the Lord was using it in my life to teach me some valuable things about discipline - but I'm not in that season right now and that is okay!

That being said - I'll still run twice this week ... I'll just do it on Saturday and report back then on how the rest of the week goes!