CO

I’m one of those moms that puts on workout clothes to run errands. Although I played soccer, ran track in high school and jogged quite often in college (to sweat out the hangover) I honestly could never stick with a workout routine for too long after that. Then kids came, I was working full time and exercise was completely off the radar (although to give credit we have always eaten pretty healthy and little ones do keep you on your toes). My husband played sports his entire life all the way through college so he claims he doesn’t know how to do life without working out. He’d wake up early to workout or train for a race and I’d be on the sideline cheering and wearing his well earned “top finisher” hat for the following months to come. After our second child J was born I joined a gym and never stepped foot in the place until I walked in to cancel the membership months later. #fail

Then, when J was about 8 months old I started staying home. I would take them on walks a lot, but there was definitely no challenge or pep in my step. My husband tried to get me to workout at his gym and I quit. It was too far away. The workouts were too intense. I didn’t enjoy it. They were all excuses, but it boiled down to the fact I just didn’t want to be there.

Fast forward to my children being 5.5 years old and 2.5 years old. My husband had another talk about me not sticking to a routine and letting things slip through the cracks. I defended myself. I’m taking them to the zoo, the park, walks, and adventures. That is important too! Can you guess what spurred this conversation? Yep. Laundry. One thing resonated with me though. He said you can teach them something new every day but it doesn’t have to be on an outing. It can be a simple life skill like making their beds, folding laundry, putting things away. I usually just did all of these things on my own after an outing or outdoor adventure while the kids were in front of the television because it went faster and was less frustrating.

But, it got me to thinking. I am doing all of this. I am tired. I can’t keep up. And so they see me not finishing. Not excelling. Maybe… They don’t even see me doing anything at all.

At this same time I was starting to plan my husband’s surprise birthday party and realized I needed to keep up with the house so that when I finally did have a few hours to decorate and run my last errands the day of I didn’t have any mess at the house to clean. If he saw me in a frenzy cleaning the Saturday of the party he would’ve surely been suspicious. So, I started googling morning routines. I had to start somewhere and I had to start soon.

I stumbled across Flylady who has an entire morning routine. And a schedule for almost everything. Hers didn’t work perfectly for me, but she inspired me to write my own. So, I wrote out a morning routine for the entire week and I stuck with it! I will share my morning routine on another post. However, the reason I metion this is because I also decided to add training for a half marathon into my early morning. LO said she would join me in this training and since both of us turn thirty in December it could be a sort of bucket list we check off for ending our twenties!

We are following Women’s Running Couch Potato to 1/2 Marathon training guide. I used to love running and I’ve really enjoyed the subtle entry back into it that this program provides. It’s realistic and exciting!

I’ve been wearing this Tin Roof Designs Monogrammed Hat on my runs and the ladies behind it have offered 10% off with the code LOANDCO10 making the total after shipping at taxes right at basically $20 🙂

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LO

I, like CO and honestly most mom’s at school drop off, enjoy wearing workout clothes most days (#momiform). I wish this attire could be an indicator of how often I workout but some days it really isn’t. I grew up playing sports and played soccer in high school for a few years. I also lifeguarded throughout high school and college which kept me active swimming laps or whatever training was necessary at the time. I also enjoyed playing a few intramural sports in college. But other than being active for a particular reason I never felt like I truly grasped having a workout routine. I have realized that I am extremely goal oriented and thrive in competition, even if it is with myself. The problem I have is setting goals.

Prior to my first pregnancy I was in pretty good shape. My husband and I enjoyed running races together so most of my exercise came from training for a race. I also loved yoga and got to class regularly. Once I became pregnant it all fell by the wayside (pregnancy exhaustion got the best of me – I actually fell asleep mid-folding laundry one time, shirt half folded on my belly and all).  After my first pregnancy, it took me a while to get back into a workout routine. I blamed it on being a first time mom, moving to a new part of town (which meant losing our gym), and overall hectic-ness that comes with working and having a new baby.  But before she turned two I was back in a routine and really happy with where I was fitness and health-wise.

Fast forward to my second pregnancy and the exact same thing happened. This time it didn’t take me as long to start working out again but, being 18 months out of this pregnancy I will honestly say I am still not happy with where I am fitness-wise. Last summer, when my second was 6 months old I joined a crossfit-esque gym and I loved it. I was going 3-4 times a week on my way home from work and enjoyed the progress I was making (I thrive in competition with myself). Then, I stopped working full time and my routine was turned upside down again. With the lack of regular child care and no supervised child care at that gym I almost never got there (my husband had a long standing relationship with the early morning workout time slot so that wasn’t readily available to me).

So here I am, I get out for walks, runs, and short circuit workouts in my yard but with no direction or goal. As I said, I work really well when I have a goal but up until this point I haven’t set any measurable fitness goals for myself. Then CO came up with the brilliant idea of running a half marathon and shared the running plan she was going to follow.  I immediately jumped on board and I am dubbing this a pre-30th bucket list.  Our goal is to complete a half marathon before we turn 30 at the end of the year.  Finally, a measurable goal!

Almost at the exact same time, my cousin’s husband sent me a plan full of workouts and even offered to be available via FaceTime to go through the movements with me.  He is a crossfit master (they both are). The plan is to use these workouts on our cross training days during the half marathon training program. I am convinced with his expertise and ability to motivate we will see plenty of progress.

Co + I will periodically be checking in to share our progress and plenty of humorous stories, I am sure!