The opposite of Wordless Wednesday....seriously sorry guys!

Have you ever had a day where your mascara just looks great - today is one of those days....and I'm an idiot that tried to take a picture and totally couldn't get a good one - so just imagine....LOL

Last night - I took the kids out in the double stroller for a 2.25 loop - and the wind was howling.  My arms are so sore today from pushing it and running the whole time.  I just keep thinking how much stronger of a runner I will be training with a stroller...haha - I can pretend!  I wanted to do 5 miles yesterday so I got on the treadmill after the kids were in bed and did a mile...I figure the 2.25 has to equal 4 miles in non stroller pushing world - so I consider it a win!  LOL

One question/comment I get all the time is how do you do it with kids?  It’s funny, cause my least favorite comment that I get from stay at home moms is “How do you do it, I worked for one day full time and can’t do it…I just don’t know how you do it” -  ok second worst quote…first one is “I’m so grateful that my husband works so hard that I can stay home” – Like my husband doesn’t work hard for our family?? Oooh I hate that one (have I ever mentioned I have a horrible problem of reading into everything – I’m trying to work on it…promise)

But back to the real topic I meant to talk about.  Anyway so I hate how people think…ok I perceive people thinking that I should be crumbling because I work full time, have two kids, a husband, going to school, and still find time to work out.  I hate that I assume people think I shouldn’t be able to do it – that I’m a horrible mother for doing it…that it should be hard. (again my reading into things..not anyone’s real intent)  I mean some days it is.  Sometimes I have freak out attacks and some days I cry because I have so much on my plate and so much guilt for having all that on my plate.  I think the life of a mother is full of guilt in general and being away from the home so much definitely adds to my levels of guilt.  But working out – has helped me actually have more time and be more focused in what I am doing.  For whatever reason, as soon as I started running it all clicked and everything now falls into place perfectly.  Well semi-perfectly.  With two full-time working parents – there are definitely scheduling conflicts, but we make it work.

For me, I never worked out…hardly ever since I got married.  I would jump on the bandwagon and fall right off after a few weeks/months.  I gained weight and wasn’t happy with my body.  It took having my second baby to make the change…I decided it was time.  I remember before I got pregnant with my second, my OB gyn told me I was 30 lbs overweight.  K I was 163 – and I thought 30 lbs?  I haven’t been 130 since I got boobs – how do you think I am 30 lbs overweight!  But I got to thinking and it was true…I was overweight.  So I took action and decided to do something about it (after I had my baby….it took me a long time to process the 30 lbs thing!) LOL  It wasn’t easy and I struggled a lot.  There were multiple times I wanted nothing more than to lay on the couch with some Oreos and eat the whole bag! To not care about my diet or my weight…but to just enjoy the satisfaction of food.  And more often, were the days I didn’t want to work out!  I didn’t want to run!  Seriously I hated running and hated getting on the treadmill three times a week.  I HATED IT.  But it’s just like the rest of my life…you schedule it in, you commit to it, and you just do it.  And now that I been running/ working out 3 times a week since July – it’s a must.  I have to have that because I know how great it feels…I know how great I feel and how worse I feel when I don’t do it.

A typical day for me consists of getting up at 7:15 – getting both boys and me ready and out the door by 8:00 (Can you tell how great I look when I go to work???)– I drop the kids off at daycare and head to work.  I get my 8 hours in and then head home.  I get home, cook dinner (or go out to eat which happens more than I would like to admit) – and try to relish as much time as I can with my boys!  I blog stalk/watch tv and play with my kids until their 7:30/8:00 bedtime.  Then I jump on the treadmill or go to Zumba and do at least an hour of working out.  Then I get in bed and talk to my husband for a little bit, do school work and then go to sleep about 11:00.  The house usually doesn’t get cleaned until Saturday…dishes don’t get done, laundry just piles up…and we live that way in order to make it.  I could clean instead of working out after the kids go to bed…I could clean while the kids are awake but then I wouldn’t get my me time…my time to do nothing and play with my kids and most importantly blog stalk and watch tv…I have my priorities and for us this works.  I read awhile ago…somewhere – about how we have to do what makes us happy and we need to check in and re-prioritize every so often…quarterly or monthly if necessary.  For my life now, having a clean house is not as important to my happiness as working out is.  I have found a list of things that make me happy – and I have made sure to find time for them in my life…in my everyday life – and I can seriously say without a doubt – that I am more content and happier than I have been in a really long time.  I feel like I have got enough balance in almost all aspects of my life.  Yes I can improve…I have lots of improvement to do to be a better mother, a better wife, a better runner, and a better homemaker, but for right now I am content...I am happy.

For some out there – working out 5 times a week, training for a marathon, or Zumba will not make you happy…but I guarantee that incorporating some sort of exercise or physical activity in your lives will be helpful.  I seriously have been a whole year without doing more than a walk around the neighborhood once a month.  I’ve been to a place where I ate whatever crap I wanted and I felt horrible for it.  I’ve been there and I’m on this side now and I don’t ever want to go back. 

I know I’ve also gotten the comment a few times “You’re so skinny, you don’t need to lose any more weight – why are you dieting?”  And I have a few things to that comment – first of all…I have some fat – and my body isn’t at the ideal body fat percentage – and so working out and dieting will help that.  I’m happy with my weight, with my body so the number isn’t really a problem.  It’s really the fact that I gained 20 lbs after I stopped breastfeeding my first baby – and I don’t want that to happen again.  I want to be in the habit of working out and eating the correct caloric intake for my body (since last time around I ate like I was pregnant or nursing even when I wasn’t)  And my second little comment to that – I feel sooo much better when I eat good foods.  I don’t feel good on the days I pig out and eat a medium size blizzard after downing two cheeseburgers.  I don’t feel good when I drink 32 oz of Dr. Pepper – three times in one day! – (but I do enjoy it at the time!!) – K there’s my little rant for the day….

Tell me how you do it or how you came to realization that you had to do something in regards to eating well/exercising? 

With or without kids/job/dog/cat/etc... it's all about commitment - we ALL are busy and we have so much on our plates and so many amazing things that we would rather be doing than working out sometimes - what's your secret for staying motivated??

Do you read into things??

Please say I'm not the only one!

And on a fun note – and to make this less boring with pictures…I bought some shoes yesterday!!!  I told myself I wouldn’t spend any more money on running supplies since I’ve spent WAY too much – but I was doing Zumba and my cross training shoes are completely out of cushion – so I’m going to just rotate – new running shoes and make my running shoes now – my cross-training shoes.   So I got a GU energy sample pack to see what I want to use for my half marathon - and I got some new shoes!!

Mizuno Inspire 6

Saucony Guide 3

And I know you are totally sick of me - but two of my bestest blogger friends are having giveaways!  The first one is - Julia's - Go check it out and check out her blog.  She is freaking darling and I just love her blog and her!  She is just getting over an injury so give her some encouragement too!!


And the second one is Megan's - she is my kick-a** boot camp instructor that I just adore!  She is so amazing and she is giving away a music mix!  And her blog is amazing and has amazing recipes!!