This morning, my husband had to work. He was up and out the door before the sun rose. I knew, way in advance, that I would not get much accomplished but accepted it. My plan? Wear them out! (So when he came home and I went out the door for book club, they would sleep well.)
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| Death by burpees as a family one Saturday afternoon. |
At 9am, we loaded up soccer balls, a football and our snacks/water and headed off to the track. I was desperately hoping they'd play long enough for my friends and I to get 3 miles of walking in. During this time of walking, the kids played soccer, Abigail held the football for Declan to kick, Declan ran laps and did push-ups and Abigail laid down and almost fell asleep by the goal post.
What better way to spend a Saturday morning? My children had the opportunity to exercise, cleverly disguised as playing, and I was able to as well. Bonus: I was setting an example that working out is a priority. And that whatever our schedule was, we'd find time for it. A lesson I really hope sticks with them.
Sunday morning I'll take off on a long run, and without a doubt, when I come through the door hours later, Abigail will ask how many hundred miles I ran and Declan will want to know if I won. But either way, they know that I took the time to get up, get dressed, and run. And maybe, hopefully someday soon, they will choose exercise as well.
I declared in February that I wanted to hit 750# for my total of squat, bench press, and deadlift. I started the Smolov Squat program in March to work towards that big number in squats. I completed the first cycle today.
On February 8th, my friends and I set off on our Spartan Sprint Adventure. Wow. Just wow. Really, there is no good way to describe this race. It was fun at times, miserable at times, challenging one minute and discouraging the next. My shoulder held up well, but after the first set of burpees, my shoulder was toast. (30 burpees was the punishment for any missed obstacle.) Luckily, they let me do air squats instead after that first round. This race was just under 5 miles and most of it was climbing up and down a mountain. The obstacles were (to the best of my memory):
I'm sure I forgot an obstacle or two, but you get the gist. Luckily, my super athletic and strong husband was with me every step of the way. Sometimes pushing me over a wall, or helping me do the monkey bars, waiting patiently while I finished burpees, etc. I think at times he may have been impressed, but overall he was very patient. I'm glad he was with me, otherwise I may not have finished. But finish we did. 
And then we immediately did the 1/2 mile kids race with our munchkins. Declan and Abigail completed all of their obstacles, and most of them on their own. Over the 1/2 mile, they climbed over a few walls, up and over muddy hills into water pits, climbed under wires, through a tunnel, and over more walls. Abigail was dead last (as the youngest and smallest) and probably the dirtiest, but she wore her mud and her medal proudly. As walked back to our stuff, people we passed were constantly giving them high fives. They were very proud of their accomplishment and I was very, very proud of them.
No, I'm not crazy, I just had a busy running weekend! I started off Friday morning at 30 miles for the month. My goal, of course is 50 miles for this month and every month this year. I had to get moving!