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Yesterday the woman sitting next to me in spinning was surprised to find out I have two little kids. I like to think that it’s because of my fabulous in-shape body. I’m totally kidding; I’m still working on getting rid of my no longer-pregnant-by-a-long shot belly. I was surprised though that she asked me that because it implied that being there at 5:30 in the morning was my top choice time slot. Also, I had brushed neither my hair nor my teeth (I swear that was a first time, because I left the toothbrush upstairs and didn’t want to wake the kids rummaging through the bathroom). I would have thought that the dog breath would have been a sure give-away, if she had missed my disheveled look, that I was squeezing exercise into my day.

Finding the time to exercise has always been the second biggest challenge to my efforts to get fit. The biggest challenge has been wanting to exercise. Seriously given a choice between spending my precious little free time sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a laptop and earning the title of Champion of the Couch Potatoes or trying to grab the last spot in an aerobics class, well it’s always better to be a champion than to come in last, right?

The first couple years I was a mom, I exercised in the evening. I didn’t have to worry about using the childcare, known as childwatch, at the Y, and I didn’t feel rushed. Unfortunately I always felt tired. By the time the evening swung around, I didn’t have the energy to tie my gym shoes much less go running. Sometimes I made it work and other times I didn’t. I did manage to lose weight, but not as much as I would have liked before I got pregnant with my second son.

After my younger son was born, I switched to working out during the day using the Y childwatch. That was alright except that every time one of my boys would pass gas, they would come and get me. Not that I blame them for not wanting to change a dirty diaper even had they been licensed to do it, but my kids never actually needed to be changed. They also seemed to pass far less gas at home. Maybe it was just a nervous habit; what a bad one to have if they were only a little older! To discourage them from inappropriately interrupting my exercise, I ended up telling the childcare providers that my kids just had bad gas when I dropped them off. One day one of them told me that if I knew this was a perpetual problem I really needed to change their diets. That was the last time I used that line.

After I had to parade through the lobby of the Y in my swimsuit one too many times to go to childwatch to change a diaper that turned out to be clean, I decided that the childwatch just wasn’t working. Let’s just say I wasn’t getting any calls to model swim suits in a fashion show.

Really I was running out of workout options. I did buy exercise equipment, which has provided a useful basement clothing rack. Some people workout really well at home. I know people who do it and swear by it. It just doesn’t work for me. I get bored doing the same exercise over and over. We don’t have any sidewalks where I live and I’ve had one too many close calls with cars while pushing a stroller. I also tell myself that since I’m working out at home I can work out at anytime, which means I never need to workout within the hour (or year) that exercise comes to mind.

So back to my dog breath and rat’s nest of hair. Early this fall, I decided to give working out in the morning a shot because frankly no other time of the day had been successful for me. That’s also when my friend and I came up with this insane idea of doing a triathlon. It actually turned out to be a good idea, and the training has been a lot of fun so far. She had four kids and the early mornings are the only time that work for her as well. So despite being a night owl, who hates getting up in the morning, who always hated morning swim practice in college, I am now working out in the morning. I can’t really say I love it. I like that exercise is over and that I’m showered and dressed when I walk back in the door. But no it’s not my true first choice. Hence the disheveled appearance. It’s what works for now though and I have to say that on my days “off,” I found I tend to be disorganized and slow to get going. Tomorrow I have to make sure that my toothbrush is downstairs though.

by Alex Elliot

Photo graciously provided by MicheKerr, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved