The Treadmill

Just so you all know, I really am making a good faith effort here on my part to restore the strained relationship with my thighs. I think they ought to be meeting me halfway seeing as I AM making an effort, but apparently cellulite isn't exactly reasonable.

You see, in the winter I get to go up to the gym in town a few times a week. The only gym in this small town, it has it's drawbacks. For instance, it doesn't have a play area for kids, or any sort of childcare. So taking my kids there is not an option. They open for business at 5 am in the summer (which is when Colby is leaving for work anyway) and 6 in the winter, so no going there in the early morning hours. That leaves me with heading up to town to work out when he gets home from work in the evening. Great! I fix everyone dinner, head up to the gym, and get home in time to put the kiddos in bed.

The worst drawback of the gym here in the summer, though, is the fact that it is in the upstairs of a very large building, and it is NOT air conditioned. Whoever heard of that?! Are they trying to lose business??? Oh well, doesn't really matter much to me these days anyway - Colby works longer hours in the summer and doesn't usually get home until almost 7 anyway.

So I've resorted to digging out the old treadmill. I'd post a picture, but I'm pretty sure it would scare my mother, so I'll refrain!

It's the one with the broken motor cover, the light switch for an on/off button, and whose speed adjuster has completely broken. It now has one speed, which I could best describe as the speed I would be going while pushing a stroller through the mall. Not exactly breaking a sweat here. But I've adjusted to the fact that it has no incline and no way to speed it up. I've learned that if I lean forward on the hand grips and hop up and down like I'm running in place, I can almost pretend I'm jogging! And that way I actually CAN work up a sweat!

My routine usually goes something like this: Get a little pillow from the couch, place pillow on top of the hand bars, then place ancient CD player walkman on top of pillow (otherwise it vibrates SO much it makes the CD skip!), start up the very loud machine and start walking while praying it doesn't wake up the kids. Then I walk, and walk, and sing along to my CD, then finally realize I'm doing this not just for the relaxation and remind myself that it has been a LONG time since I've sang anything and that I probably sound like a dying cowbird, then I kick it over to a fast song, lean over on the hand rail and start hopping in place to get the blood moving.

See? I AM making an effort here.

My options are a bit limited. When we go for walks outside, I have one kid on his bicycle, and two little girls I'm pulling in a wagon. Okay, if you've ever pulled 50+ lbs. in a wagon for a mile, you know the pace is not exactly break-neck speed! Those walks are mostly for fun and education. Or for stopping to rescue every caterpillar from the road before they're killed.

Let's see, yes, I do have a double stroller I could put the girls in, but it's not really the outdoor type. It has small wheels, a long wheel-base, and drives like a bus. While our road here is actually considered a paved road, it's more like a glorified dirt road with the added joy of potholes.

I guess the old treadmill will have to suffice for now for the exercise part of my day, supplemented with gardening, chasing children, scrubbing floors, and going up and down the stairs more times a day than I can count. If my thighs aren't happy with that, well, then that's their problem!