Happy Groundhog Day! I Ran From My Shadow, Too!

Lately, my clothes have been tight.  Uncomfortable. Unflattering.  I mean, I can still wear them.  I haven’t gotten THAT far off-track, but, they tell me that I am not currently in possession of my desired physique. 

I do not own a scale.  Not that I’m against them, but I just haven’t ever felt the necessity to own one.  My clothes and the mirror (and my husband – he is brutally honest) are what I personally use to keep track of my body composition fluctuations.

Well, when I was home at Christmas, I stepped on my parents’ scale.  Just out of curiosity.  An’ it weren’t pretty.  I was about 10 pounds heavier than where I like to be when I’m feeling and looking my best.  It was no surprise, really, but disconcerting, nonetheless.

With today being Groundhog Day, it reminded me that I’ve been acting like a scared groundhog.  At the end of December, I curiously and tentatively stepped on the scale (the groundhog pokes his sleepy head out of his hole), I glanced at the digital read-out in shock and quickly jumped off (he sees his shadow looming and scrambles back into his burrow) and I continued my unhelpful behavior  for, roughly, six more weeks – too reluctant to make a commitment just yet to get the body composition changes that I need and want (the skittish groundhog hides out underground for six more weeks thinking he’s better off delaying the inevitable end of his hibernation).

Well, I’ve had it!  I’m sick of running away from hard work and discipline.  I’m sick of hibernating and postponing my day of reckoning.  The time has come to stop mindlessly stuffing my face and to become more consistent with my workouts.

It’s time to start casting shadows of a different kind:



If this is what 6 more weeks of winter looks like in Vegas,
then I'll take it!



Just had to throw this one in:  Those are our shadows being cast
from no other light than the bright moon!


What shadows are you going to cast this year???

How I Overcame Lazy This Week: With Random Acts of Fitness, Of Course!

I didn't manage to get a "workout" in today.  But I'm OK with that because it was an active day regardless, thanks to two Random Acts of Fitness.  An "active" day and a "busy" day are different things for me.  Busy days often mean that it will not be an active day because there just won't be the time to fit in a workout. 

But since I've been focusing on these RAFs, I've been pleased to note that - though not always the case - my busy days no longer guarantee an absence of exercise.  I'm still able to make even my busiest days "active" with just a few minutes of short exercise bursts in all kinds of different ways.


Funny...I almost wore that EXACT outfit
to the playground today.


Take today, for example.  It was full of the school practice walk (R starts kindergarten next week and we’ve been preparing by walking to school in the mornings this week), dropping the car off to get fixed, grocery and school supply shopping, baking refreshments for a church activity, taking the kids swimming to give my sister-in-law some much needed peace while recovering from her C-section, and then going to the church activity.  My to-do list actually had even more on it… but the rest will be put off till tomorrow, including my workout.

But here’s the magic of the RAFs:  I don’t lament my missed workout because I squeezed in some activity anyway! On the way home from the school walk, we swung by the playground so the girls could  run amok for a few minutes; and instead of taking shelter in the nearby shade like I wanted to (it’s been blazing hot lately!), I joined them for some “fun” of my own with some step-ups and plyo push-ups and pull-ups.  This only added a few extra minutes to our routine but it was fun and beneficial to us all.  We definitely got sweaty but thank goodness the sprinklers were on for us to run through on the way home!

Then later at the pool, I did some more of the pool exercises that I’ve been so fond of lately.

I acknowledge that not all busy days easily allow for even a quick RAF.  BUT, since I’ve been focused on them more, I’m finding that they’re not as hard to incorporate as you’d think. 

In this crazy life that we ping pong around in, we often have to get creative and non-traditional in our approach to getting things done.  Well, this includes fitness as well!  Start thinking more “outside the box.” 

Start thinking “randomly!” 

Our Rainy Day Adventure



A rare sunless morning in Vegas



As nice as we have it here in Vegas during winter, it is still sometimes hard to convince ourselves that we want to bundle up and exercise/play outdoors.  But K didn't get to ride his bike to work this weekend due to the rainy, blustery weather and wanted to make up for it by doing a run this morning.  He planned to head off jogging out toward Redrock Canyon and have us girls meet him out there to hike around and scramble. 



We named this "Gigantic Puddle Lake"



When he suggested it the night before, I told him that was a great idea and he could drive the girls home while I ran back.  We'd attempted this before about a week ago, but it was in the afternoon and it got too dark for me to safely do my run home (darn!).



Lots of great rocks to throw



I have to admit I was kind of regretting my late-night enthusiasm come morning.  Although it wasn't too rainy (slightly sprinkling on and off), it was chilly and dreary and it was... well, it was morning (I'm not an AM kinda gal).

But K took off before I could offer much of a protest and I had no choice but to stick to the plan.  Well, I guess I could've just stayed home but that wouldn't have been very nice, now, would it?  It's about 6 miles out to Calico Basin where we met him before, so I gave him about 45 minutes and then we headed out.  We found him plugging along the road about 4.5 miles away from the house and he was ready to be picked up.  Exhaustion was unsurprisingly setting in after his usual all-work, no-sleep weekend schedule. 



Displaying some majorly muddy shoes



So although we didn't make it out to Calico to hike, we'd spotted a new lake that formed in the drainage basin on the way and just had to stop there to check it out.  The girls were absolutely thrilled to run around, throw rocks and "Pooh sticks" (as they called them) into the lake and get muddy!  We almost lost a couple shoes!



Ah, the joy of getting dirty

 And, no, I didn't get out of my run home again (darn!).  Believe me, I gave a pretty decent attempt at wimping out by muttering some of my misgivings about the bad weather and my near ankle-sprain in the mud but K wasn't having it.  He mercilessly booted me out of the car at the corner.  Well, he did display a little leniency by at least driving to the 3 mile mark. 

And it was all down hill. 



I even brought a change of clothes! 
See, sometimes I'm on the ball.



It's good for us to have him around. 

It was a great morning!