Fighting for Fitness

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Pick your battles!”

Well, as a mom there are only so many weapons in our arsenal, only so many hours in a day, and only so many brain cells to put toward the many battles we face. There are the little ones (who really cares if your two-year-old is wearing an ensemble fit for a Punky Brewster rerun?) and the bigger ones (like that budget conversation that must be resolved before the account is overdrawn), but it’s the medium-sized battles that are challenges…for me, this is where fitness has always fallen.

After getting married, settling into a house, and having a couple of babies, I had plenty of extra weight to carry around and I was only as active as having kids required…which sometimes wasn’t as active as I had been told. This, and the constant access to handfuls of snacks like goldfish and even fruit, kept the weight on and I was sad and disappointed in myself.

I decided sometime over the last few years (there wasn’t really one AHA! moment, more like a series of small inspirations) that taking care of me was a battle I was ready to pick. And so I did!

I think moms excuse ourselves from physical activity because there isn’t enought time in the day (there really isn’t always enough time) or because we can’t afford (or justify) a gym membership, but the thing I’ve started to find is that it’s a totally winable war with myself if I just decide I’m worth it, and the time is well-spent, and the effects are beneficial to me and my kids (tell me what kid would rather have a mom who sits and watches when she could be on the slide with him?).

At the present moment I am training for a Tough Mudder (check it out!) and I hope to share the journey with all of you. I started training just for the sake of exercise last fall by running or walking the dog as many nights as I could and now I’m working out with a trainer three times a week after the kids go to bed (expensive but short lived), running on the weekends before they wake up (totally free! the Valley has great trails, check out North Mountain!) and working in any other kind of exercise I can manage (can you say Yoga, Spinning, Bosu?). It’s not really a sustainable course of activity for me, at least not in the long haul, because I work full-time and I do love my children and want to spend every possible waking moment with them, but it’s doable for a goal like this only a few weeks away and it’s fun!

It’s great to have a short-term goal, and hopes of conquering something I never would’ve thought to say yes to if someone had asked even a year ago.

This comes with aches and pains, and sometimes a daunting exhaustion…but my oldest daughter knows that when Mommy completes this race I will get a bright orange headband…and that to her would be like me roping the moon! I have every intention of getting strong enough to finish and make my daughter proud! That is a battle worth winning!!!