deep breath. deep breath

two of my very good friends from college came to visit this weekend. it was great to see “real people” again. they got to ooohhhh and aaaahhhh over the baby and i got to eat food that wasn’t on my diet (thanks E and B!).

two things that i’ve realized this weekend:

first, i was really convicted in Sunday School to volunteer more. now i don’t really know yet what that means i’m going to do, but i do know that i am going to try to make an effort in that direction. i also don’t have a clue why i felt that strong conviction because that’s not at all what our lesson or discussion was about. i just know that i’m going to try to do more for others. let me know if you have a suggestion.

anyway, the second thing i realized was that i have no excuse not to exercise any more. i keep saying that my excuses are valid and i can come up with a pretty good list of them, but the fact of the matter is that i can find time for whatever my priority is (like reading blogs).

i know that starting an exercise program again now that i have a five month old will be harder than it was to regulate my bowel movements after giving birth (HA!), but i am going to try to this week. as a matter of fact i rallied up the troops (my husband and sister) and suckered them into getting up at the butt crack of dawn this morning to go run/walk 30 minutes with me.

now let me tell you. i haven’t exercised, i mean really exercised, since i was 4 ½ months pregnant. (that was almost a year ago! ACK!) and it was harder today than it was then. that’s really saying something (ever tried to run in 95 degree heat with morning sickness and a poochy belly?).

i’ve never been a runner. it’s always made my knees hurt when i try to run on pavement and i’ve never had the motivation so i had never even made it a mile straight until last year when my sister got on a running kick (she ran a half marathon – go Whit!). i gradually made it up to 4.5 miles with her and j, but then i quit. i’m not aiming for any of that now. i just want to get back in shape and shake away a few (er, twenty more) pounds.

so all of this brings about a new dilemma… how do you people with kids exercise? i need help. have any input?

this morning the husband ran a while then cooled-down-walked and my sister left ten minutes after him. when he came back in i left and warm-up-walked and then ran and walked for thirty minutes. that way we never left the baby alone asleep in the crib even for just a few short minutes (i promise).

so my total was probably only ten minutes of running and twenty minutes of fast walking, but that’s all i could manage this morning. i probably wouldn’t have even made it that far if my sister hadn’t passed off her iPod to me on her way in. before i had anything to distract my mind i just kept having those negative thoughts passing through my head. you know the ones that say, “i can’t do this. this is BS. why am i out here? it’ll never work. etc”? [then the iPod came to the rescue. i’ve really got to get one of those things!]

my biggest problem with this plan is that i need the encouragement of others to keep going or i always quit running and just walk instead. i need that little extra voice (no matter how annoying [he] it is) to tell me not to stop. while today they were out exercising too, it wasn’t exactly with me. and if i have to keep up this running program by myself then i just don’t know how long it will last. i am weak without them. but i can’t very well leave the little girl alone in the house either.

for now i feel exhilarated and definitely on a high from accomplishing something already today (and it’s only 9:10 am). that’s HUGE! just two days ago i was saying that i would probably never exercise again.

so tell me people. is it just a fact of life that once you have kids you will never get to exercise with your husband again? take it away Internet!