Finding a Way

I left off with the beginning of the present day.  The athlete inside finding her way out again.  It was a bit trickier at this present stage in life because things had changed so much.  The key for me was finding a way to exercise at home, which took awhile for me to figure out because I always thought that would never work for me.  I had made myself believe that working out at home would be boring, or I'd be too distracted, or not motivated enough.  I was used to being a gym rat.  The gym had worked for me in the past, so why was it not working now?  One word...childcare. 
First of all, it was a constant struggle to even get to the gym with two kids in tow.  Then once I got there they would start crying because they didn't want me to leave them in the childcare room.  That made me feel bad, both for my children and the workers.  Then there was the fact that I was paying by the half-hour for childcare, so I felt rushed (not energized) throughout my workout.  I was constantly watching the clock.  And if I happened to run into a friend, well forget about talking, I had to get this workout done because I had not a minute to spare.  It was not, in my opinion, what the gym is made for.  I found that I was very inconsistent with my exercise because of all these issues and when I did make it in, low and behold, nine times out of ten, my kids would catch some sort of illness and that would set me back even more.  The cycle of inconsistency went on and on and on.  Plain and simple, it wasn't working!  But in my mind I had already decided that working out at home wouldn't work either...I needed to be outside. 
So I strolled.  Occasionally jogged, but mostly walked.  And that was good, it was something.  It just wasn't enough.  I knew it.  My body knew it.  But I wouldn't give home fitness a chance.  My mind was made up...so I thought. 
Then one day my husband decided he was going to try P90X.  It was the new craze and people were getting insane results from this program.  He set up a little home gym in our garage with some dumbells, a pull-up bar, and the laptop to play his DVDs, and then he went to work sweating.  He invited me to join him.  I declined.  Over the next three months I continued strolling and taking my fitness level no where, and I watched my husband completely transform his body in 90 short days.  But not only that, he started eating healthier.  He was in a better mood.  He was energized.  And I noticed.
Well, summer came, school was out, and my, then, five-year old was home.  Strolling had finally taken it's course.  My son was simply too big to be pushing around in a stroller.  I wasn't going to ask him to do that.  Upon realizing that my one consistent option was out, I knew I had to do something.  So I decided I would just do the P90X DVDs.  I mean they were just sitting there while my husband was at work.  I thought I would probably hate them.  I was wrong.  I loved them!  And for the first time in five years I started feeling muscles I had forgotten about.  I started feeling motivated.  This program wasn't boring, it was energizing, and it was doable!  I could do it at home while my children played.  If there was an issue I could press pause.  I quickly started seeing results and that motivated me even more.  I knew I  had finally found what I needed.
So I started looking into the company Beachbody (the one who sell P90X).  It turns out they have tons of workout programs, and basically everything I needed to get on track and start living a healthier life...to start being the best ME that I could be.  I was hooked!  "Brilliant, why didn't I think of this sooner," I thought.  I guess in life that's just how it goes sometimes...at least for me.

From the Beginning

     This is the first entry in my new fitness blog!  For me fitness has been a steady lifelong experience, like a long walk.  Sometimes the walk was more like a jog, a run, or even a sprint.  Other times it was a stroll, a meander, or a skip.  And yet other times it was a dance, a twirl, or even a splash.  But it seems that shortly after birth I began moving, and I've had a love for it ever since.  My body simply works best when I use it!
  
     I remember as a child, my mom could see the energy building up inside me, and would send me outside to do laps around the house.  Finally, she put me in gymnastics and I discovered my first sport.  I loved gymnastics... the tumbling, the bars, even the balance beam (which was a little scary).  And boy did it make me strong!  I could do more chin ups then the boys at school and even beat a few of them at arm wrestling!  After six years of being a gymnast, I decided I wanted to totally switch gears to soccer (that's what all my friends were doing).  So I traded in my leotard for shin guards.  I liked soccer, but I wasn't very good at it.  I kept at it, though, playing on my high school team as well as on a travel team.  One day I was in regular ol' gym class and I was talking to my coach about soccer and how I didn't love it, and after listening to me he said, "Sounds like you just love running...you should go out for the Cross-Country team."  Brilliant idea!  I don't know why I never thought of it myself.  So that's exactly what I did and I found a new sport to love.  I ran Cross-Country and Track the rest of my high school career and even earned a scholarship to run at a college, but turned it down so that I could stay at home and go to Florida State.

     After high school, I was introduced to Step Aerobics, and for nearly a whole year I didn't run at all, but did Step like crazy.  Then one day I decided that I wanted to go out and run again.  In my mind I could easily run five miles without a thought, and cardiovascularly I could too (because of all the Step Aerobics).  But running and step are two very different exercises, as I would soon find out, and quickly I ended up with an injury (young and stupid, I know).  Ever since then my approach to running has had to be ever so cautious...it takes very little to flare up that old injury, even to this day.

     But I continued to run (with care), and as an adult began learning new sports such as biking, mountain biking, snowboarding, snow-shoeing, swimming, and strength training.  I even completed a triathlon!  However, mostly during the past five years my consistent form of exercise has been walking.  After my two sons were born life changed tremendously.  My body changed as well.  I slowed down a lot. I rarely missed my morning stroll, it kept me sane...kept me balanced.  But most days that was all I did.  And I am thankful for that time.  Time to slow down, be with my kids while they were little.  Enjoy life at a slower pace.  Thankful, yes...but inside me that athlete was calling....was waiting ever so patiently....and one day it came forth screaming!  But life was different now.  Could I ever be the athlete I once was?  Plus, I was getting older...starting to feel some of those aches and pains.  Could I satisfy the me within in my present life?  Thankfully, the answer was yes, I could...and it was much easier than I had ever imagined.