Christmas Eve is already upon us and another week has gone by – time to fill everyone in on my astounding progress with getting in shape! Queue the sad trombone…This whole journey is about how difficult it is as a working father to find time to work out regularly. If it were easy, I’d have nothing to write about!
Here’s my day in a nutshell: wake up to my alarm, willing to donate my year’s salary in order to sleep later. Set a land-speed record driving to the train station. Read, catch up on work emails, and doze off on the train to Boston. Consult architects and engineers on all kinds of interesting projects. Walk quickly/jog/sprint to the train station, depending on how little time I’ve left myself.
With a 35 lb laptop bag, this may actually qualify as a workout…Walk into a quiet, peaceful house sh*t storm and relieve my wife from an exhausting day balancing her work, housework, and taking care of three boys and a dog. Hold the baby while riding the older boys to finish dinner and pick up their room and get into bed. Don’t get me wrong, we have fun too – reading books, wrestling – but by 9 pm I could pass out quicker than any one of my kids.
It’s ok, you can put away the tiny violin; I love my life, I just wish that there were more than 24 hours in a day, or that I only needed 4 hours of sleep– not the 6 that I get normally! Speaking of that, I finally made progress on my goal to go to bed earlier. Everyone who knows me well knows that I stay up really late most nights. This week I was in bed before 11 three nights in a row! Not coincidentally, it was the nights after I had exercised during the day.
Saturday I went for a mountain bike ride, this time exploring some less technical, but more hilly trails. I got a great workout and also popped my tire with a thorn. It’s ok, I fixed it and am ready to go again this week. Sunday and Tuesday I did more lunges. I just keep visualizing the end of a ski day when I want to get the most out of the ticket I financed bought, but my legs feel like dead weights. Monday my usual racquetball partner couldn’t play, but I spoke to another friend who wants to start playing soon. Then I heard from someone who had read this blog, who is also looking to get back into shape.
Amazing what social networking can do… I found someone else on the Cape who wants to play racquetball, so starting in the new year I’m hoping to have at least two days of racquetball per week, plus 1-2 mountain bike rides. I might get really ambitious and check out a local training facility with one of my friends. I’ll share more details on that once I look into it.
So far, it’s all about not giving up. I’m not giving up on finding time to work out. I’m not giving up on finding other people to work out with– something I think is key for me. I’m as motivated as ever to get back to being an athlete. I just need to be creative with my schedule (thanks in large part to my wife supporting more time away from the family) and stay committed to myself.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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