Exercise

So I decided this spring to let my Farrell's membership expire. I was finding it harder and harder to stick with it. I think it got boring, with mostly the same work-out day in and day out - and I want to do some running.

I did decide to purchase some resistance training bands so I can keep up with some strength training at home. That's something that I've never been good at, but I enjoy (most of) the exercises, and it's important to me in addition to the cardio that I'm doing. I found the best prices I could on Amazon, and purchased the same or very similar bands to what I'd been using at Farrell's. I still have my book with the exercises in them, so I don't forget. The bands also came with a pamphlet showing how they can be used, so I'll be able to mix it up a bit.

Jock and I are both running this spring. He signed up for a 20k the first weekend in June - Dam to Dam (I ran the Dam to Dam 5k last year. Some friends talk about it every year, and he decided to go for it. Yes, I think he's a little crazy, going from little-to-no exercise to trying to run a 20k in 11 weeks. (That's more than 12 miles, folks!!!) He wants to do it and decided just to set a goal. If he physically can't do it, he won't, but he's going to try. I'm glad he's moving and starting to exercise. He's already started running a few days/week on our treadmill, and he's going to work his way up with his mileage. He'll be running outside on the weekends for his longer runs as well.

Yesterday he asked me what were some exercises he could do to strengthen certain muscle groups. I got out my bands, and showed him a few. He has some limitations with his knees and back, but he thought he could do a few of them.

While I had the bands out, the kids were watching, and it became a fun game to try to do some of the exercises (them without the bands, though - they're not made in kid sizes). So it was like I was teaching a little exercise class, right in my living room - fun! Elijah lost interest pretty quickly, but Josephine was really into it. She wanted to keep doing more when I stopped, and has been asking about exercising with me every day since! :) ...and you should see the girl do push-ups - perfect form, and all the way down with upper arms parallel to the floor - on her toes. She's a natural!

I mentioned I'm running as well. I ran two 5k's last summer/fall. My sister joined me for my second one, and we decided we wanted to do a few more this year... Well, we'd heard about the Warrior Dash - a relative did it last summer, and one of my co-workers was talking about it quite a bit this winter. She and some friends signed up for the one in Nebraska. When she told me they added one in Iowa, I texted my sister. We thought about it for a couple weeks, then decided to give it a try. Yes, we're crazy too!

The Warrior Dash is about a 3 1/2 mile run, but on an obstacle course. In addition to the running, we'll have to climb over things, crawl under/across things, jump over fire, and trudge through a mud pit to finish the race. I still am in a little disbelief that we signed up, and a little scared, but it's going to keep me motivated to keep training. I think I'm going to need more endurance than what I need for a regular 5k street run, and I'm going to need that strength training for the obstacles.

So here we go!