I'm sure there are about three of you out there, but for you three, I wanted to let you know what has been happening in my life, and what I am doing as far as exercise goes for April. As you might know, in order to keep myself active, and accountable, I do a different exercise challenge every month. And then here, I keep a diary of sorts. I know that we are about two weeks into April already, but better late than never.
We have been renovating, as I'm sure you already know. I have been hemming curtains,refinishing furniture, and trying to keep the baby happy, the house clean, meals made, laundry done, and still be able to read, sleep, and exercise. So, unfortunately blogging and videos have fallen to the wayside. Maybe that means I'm not meant to be a blogger. I like to think of it as being a bad multi tasker and a better mother, but I'll let you make that call. I also don't really have a place to blog or call my own right now. My camera battery was misplaced from the camera to the charger, and then my husband moved all of the things from the main room of the basement to the storage room, with no real rhyme or reason (to me) so I haven't had access to all of my make up, scrap booking, or even to a calm space that i can film. Most days I have to scrape together a blog with a screaming baby in the back ground and try not to scream at the top of my lungs in frustration. Luckily, the basement is getting done next, and though it is a larger room than any my husband has done, it also has nothing in it, and is essentially a large square with a staircase attached to it. No closets or anything like that to get hung up on, and nothing in the middle of the room to be careful of or to hinder his movement. He really is being a saint by painting all of these rooms, by himself, getting up early everyday to do it. Such a saint. But I am a greedy, greedy human being, and I cannot wait for the basement to be finished so that I can have carpet and decorated area to blog and film my heart out. This is why the blog has been so crazy. between me trying to actually do the things that I want to blog about, having a life, exercising, having a crazy two year old running around, and having no space to do my thing, the blog has fallen to the wayside. But because i made this commitment to myself and to the three of you reading right now, I will make a more concerted effort next week to blog and film and post and all that good stuff. I am even thinking about trying to film us putting the guest room together. That is what has been holding me up, and what has been happening in my life thus far. Now, onto more important matters.
For April, I made up my own challenge. I have been blabbering on and on, for a few months now, about how nice it would be to join a new exercise class. On our last posting, I joined an Aquacise class and a Bootcamp class, and I loved it! I loved listening to the other women talk about their lives, their husbands, their kids, their houses, and their bodies. I loved working and sweating and being joined with other women who were working and sweating. My husband loves to go to the gym. Loves it. With a passion that rivals the love he has for his own child. I, on the other hand, am not a gym bunny. (Yes, that is actually what women are calling themselves now.) I enjoy going with him, but it isn't like exercising with another woman.
My best friend and I used to go to the gym once or twice a week together for about a year. And it was fun! We exercised on the same equipment, we laughed, oogled men, talked about fashion and make up and deodorant and work and whatever else we wanted to talk about. We helped each other on the machines and then showered and changed and got ready to go out afterwards, in a normal, girly, talking, giggling fashion. The gym, is not like that with my husband. At all. We do not talk. We do not laugh. We do not oogle, or snicker, or giggle, or cheep, or wiggle our eyebrows suggestively. We work out, him with his ear buds in, and me, watching him, listening to other people have conversations with each other.
Now, don't get me wrong, my husband and I talk more than the average couple. I actually read recently average couples, who have been married within ten years, only talk for 40 minutes during an hour long meal. And they normally only have one meal a day together. Yes, that is an actual statistic. My husband and I share one or two meals a day, depending on how busy we are, and of course, depending on if he is home or not. And during that time we talk while I cook, while we eat, and our meal times are on the upwards of two hours so that we can fully talk and enjoy each other and our little one. We talk while we clean up the kitchen, and play with the baby, and we even have a horrible habit of talking during movies and tv shows we watch. We just talk and talk and talk and talk. Always. But at the gym, we are silent. He works hard, and he also, I think, wants to be seen as a tough guy. I suppose no man wants to be seen talking and laughing with a woman, unless he is hitting on her, and my husband and I have passed that point in our relationship. So, he works, and I watch, and work with him a little, but it isn't very fun honestly.
And that isn't even considering the baby. Normally, I take her, so he can work out. Which is sometimes frustrating, but i understand that where he works out with all the beefcakes and muscleheads, there is a lot of heavy lifting and slamming things, high jumping and handstand pushups, machinery and not a lot of space, and of course round house kicks, five finger death punches and wrestling alligators. Okay, not those last three. But you get the picture. So, I take her to the nice, safe, openness of the track where I try and run in my normal fashion (which I despise; I feel like a walrus running whilst pushing a pram.) and then I normally wind up walking around the oblong track endlessly, while my husband finishes fighting ninjas and taming lions in his corner of the gym. And all of this leads to me having a quite unsatisfying work out, and we don't see much of each other anyhow, so why bother?
This brings me to my newest bright idea. I will work out in the great outdoors while it is lovely and nice out, and then I will force myself to drag my tired bones to the gym and do exercise tapes when the weather gets nasty and cold again. So now that that life altering decision has been made, I move to the actual challenge for this month: running and classes.
I have been going to two classes at our recreation Complex, or the RexPlex as we call it, two days a week, and running the other three days. I have been doing a Kickboxing class, which I adore, and I wish I could go twice a week, and a Step class, that I had been going to, but I think I might switch to another program because of many reasons, among them is my lack of coordination in all things aerobic. I haven't decided what i am going to replace it with, but I need to find something very quickly. So, for the entire month of April, every tuesday and Thursday, I get up at 7:30 am and get moving so that I can go to my fitness classes. And so far, I am loving it. I haven't missed one week, and I couldn't be happier with the environment and the workouts I have been getting. Most days, my arms and legs feel like jello, and I am exhausted by 12 everyday, but to me, it is worth it.
This brings me to the second part of the monthly challenge: running. Now, I am not a fan of running. You can ask my husband, I have cried on runs before. Moving that far, that fast, hurts, and is tiring, and is hard work, so I hate it, but it also gives me the best sense of accomplishment ever. My least favorite thing to do, is run while pushing the jogging stroller. It isn't pretty. And it feels awkward and unnatural, but I do it, because I don't have another choice. Some days, when my husband is actually home, I get him to watch the baby while I run, which is what I will be doing today, but most days, I run with the baby in the stroller, and I huff and puff and groan and struggle through it, but I do it. I persevere.
So, that is my challenge for this month. two classes a week and three days of running a week. It isn't easy, but I do it because I want to be healthy, and I love the thrill of victory, the pleasure of success, and the overwhelming joy of accomplishment.
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