No More Excuses

The track nearby.

This is an out of the ordinary, self-indulgent themed post. I've been reflecting on it for a while, and I wanted to finally get it out and on paper, so to speak. Since we've been in China, I've found it remarkably hard to work exercise into my daily routine. For those of you who know me, this has a serious effect on my emotional well-being and my confidence. It's been difficult to schedule it for multiple reasons. So I'll make my excuses, then be ready to move on from them. ;)

Dizzy shot of running up the mountain

One, Time. These past few months have been super busy. I've been working everyday until 4:30 and Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I am coaching soccer so I don't get home until six. This doesn't count the days we have games. Tuesday are faculty meetings, which can last until 6pm and Thursdays are quiz nights, my one night out a week. The weekends are difficult because I want to sleep in, and if I don't go super early, it gets too crowded to run.

Two, Variety. Running is pretty much my only option for working out right now. It's been my main form of exercise for many years now, but I do like variety. Unfortunately, we haven't found a suitable gym that offers classes in the evening (not that I would have time anyway), nor one with a swimming pool. I do miss other forms of exercise, and running wears me down quickly. And, like I mentioned earlier, it's difficult to find a place to run without crowds.

The machine.

Three, Motivation. That's pretty much the main deterrent. I'm struggling with feeling tired, not eating very healthfully and balancing a new life here with our family. It takes an immense amount of effort to get up early, or arrange with Donnie a time to run. We can't run together very often, because the streets near us are not so stroller friendly (lots of missing bricks, curbs, and posts).

So now here I sit, feeling pretty out of shape, and it's showing (I had my body fat tested...not good). So I've rallied. No more excuses. These things never stopped me before, why am I letting them now? Donnie knows how difficult it is for me when I don't exercise, so instead of a gym membership to a gym we probably would never use, he bought me a treadmill.

It's been so nice, and now the excuse of too crowded or time of day is gone. And although having enough time is still a struggle, hopefully my load will be lightened soon.

Trying to stay focused.

I spoke with my sister and brother about alternative exercises I can do at home, so the can come back into my routine. It's not there yet, but at least I have a resource. There are also some ladies here at school who belong to a yoga center. I may join them, even though I am a complete newbie to yoga. That could satisfy some of the variety, and also I have my weekly hike with Honey. Another excuse, excused.

Finally, motivation. This is purely self-centered and from my inner being. How can I get myself out of bed and running? The best way I can think of is to set goals for myself and plan out the amount I will run each day. My guilt over not reaching my goals each day is pretty motivating, so hopefully it will work out. So for the past two weeks, I've given myself a 40k a week running goal. That means no matter what is going on, how tired I am, how busy I am, I must run 40k. I made my goal last week, and am so far on track for this week. (34k down and its only Thursday!) As soon as I get a handle on this goal, I will add in the other exercises and add more k to my runs.

A less crowded area to run.

So what does that look like? It looks like me, dragging myself out of bed at 5:15am for a rather dark, pungent run around the neighborhood. It looks like me putting in my headphones and pounding out 5k on the treadmill after getting home at 6:30pm and Paul shouting at me to be done. It looks like me running around a track while the boys' soccer team finishes their game, so I don't have to do those laps at home. These things happen more than once a day usually. It's not a pretty sight, but hopefully soon it will pay off.

When soccer season is over in 2 weeks it will get easier, and Donnie and I will have time to do our runs after school before we get home. The weather will get cooler (I hope!) so the dreadful humidity won't  be as draining and I'll want to run longer. And we will find a stroller-friendly place to run (I have some leads), so that we can go as a family.

There. No. More. Excuses. Ask me in a few weeks if I've kept my word. ;)

On a side note: This post was a struggle for me to write because I can't spell excersize...er exercise. ;)