In Shape, Here I Come

I'm going to be 30 this year (in late March) I'm not afraid of 30. I don't think I'm suddenly old and whatever else the people who freak out about 30 think. But I do think it's past time for me to get in shape and actually train for those 5k races I want to run. Plus I have lots of great clothes from back when I was a single woman with a great income who loved to spend money on clothes, clothes and more clothes. (plus my favorite pair of jeans Seven for All Mankind that I can't even bare to look at because I am too big for them)

BTW, I didn't run a single race last summer. I claimed it was too hot to train, so I slacked off to the point that I quit. I walked a little, but that's about it.

Husband and I have talked a lot about how we don't like taking the kids out for walks in the winter when it's 40 degrees outside, but WE still have to do something active. Gym memberships are out. We just don't have the money for it, plus if I go during the day while he's at work I would have to pay for childcare. And if we went together in the evenings, we'd still have to pay for childcare. Suddenly the cost of our monthly gym membership would almost double.

For our anniversary, I gave Husband this weight bench. Well, it was my idea to give it to him, but because of the cost we decided it would be our gift to each other. I started pricing weight benches and found this one at Academy. And three days before I anniversary it went on sale! $15 dollar off. SCORE. We got the 160lb weight set to go with it. It's definitely what we need for now and then some. Plus we can always add more weights on to it later (when/if Husband starts using more weights)

You can't really see the leg press because if I zoomed out any more, you'd be able to see how messy our room was!

For Christmas we asked for this elliptical trainer. It's the Gold's Gym one at Wal-Mart. I love it. (Because of the pneumonia Husband hasn't been on it much) It even has an iPod dock but so far I have been watching television while using it.

Again, I'm not trying to be vague with the pictures ... just trying to hide the clutter!

I've started my own program

day 1: elliptical 30 minutes, weights

day 2: elliptical 30 minutes

day 3: elliptical 30 minutes, weights

day 4: off day

repeat.

It's going well. I've stuck to it everyday since I started except Monday when I took Husband to the doctor. And I felt like my sinuses might explode.

results? already.

We don't have a scale and to tell you the truth, I don't want one. The last time I was weighed was at my 6 weeks postpartum appointment after Son was born. Instead, Husband and I measured each others body parts we wanted to shrink/sculpt/whatever.

For me it was thigh, hips, waist, chest and arm.

For Husband it was waist and chest.

I am only measuring every 3 weeks. (that's the hard part. sometimes I want to do it everyday) So I only have my original calculations. BUT I do have jeans that used to be tight that I can now take off without unzipping and unbuttoning. SO excited.

I am 2/3 sizes away from the fabulous clothes in my closet I haven't been able to wear in years.

and because of my 30 minutes on the elliptical I think that 5k aren't horribly far away either. I'll be excited for a warm day (60+) so I can get outside and see how close I actually am!

I'd love to run a 5k on my birthday, but it's the week between the 19th and the 26th. So, those are the days I'm looking for races on. I'm going to search Active.com soon for possible races.

guys, I'm so excited about this. It's hard to even express. I really love running and now I have a great off season way to get in shape and stay in shape! I'm excited to feel like I'm in charge of my own body again. And to have my body feel "like me" again.