I Joined a Gym WHY???

Last Tuesday I got a flyer in the mail advertising a $25/month membership to a local gym. Seemed like a sweet deal to me so I went to check it out on Wednesday; a cold, rainy morning with news stories of floods and no less than four (yes FOUR) people hit by lightning during the massive electrical storm of the night before…not exactly an inspiring day!

But in one way it was. See, I had planned to run on Wednesday morning since I had a rare few hours to myself, but with the deluge, no way was I strapping on my sneakers to head out. So a gym (with treadmills, hence indoor, rain-free running) seemed a great idea. Off I went! I got the full tour, the royal treatment, the sales pitch…and jumped right in. In fact, I did get a very good deal – low monthly fee and no initiation – and the gym is only a 7-minute drive (or 1/2 hour walk) from home. Free Yoga classes no less! Seemed perfect.

But that was Wednesday. And here we are the following Tuesday, and have I BEEN to said gym? Ummm…NO. Which brings me back to my question…I joined a gym why? See, there’s this little snag…two minor obstacles between me and my fitness goals. And those obstacles are otherwise known as my children.

Okay, to be fair, the obstacles are not my children per se, but rather their schedules and activities. See, child #1 is in full-day school, but that generates no child-free hours for me because child #2 is still in preschool. So, that leaves me with just shy of 2 hours of child-free time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Hardly a huge window of opportunity for working out!

And then there’s soccer. The bane of my existence. The minor soccer gods here have, in their wisdom, decided that even the 3-year olds need to pay soccer for a full hour TWICE a week. And the 6-year olds have the same schedule. AND the start times are 6:30 and 6:15 respectively. OH! And do they play on the SAME two days a week? NOOOOOOO! We are scarfing some kind of pre-packaged dinner at 5:30 on Mon, Tues, Wed AND Thurs, then racing off to the soccer pitch rain or shine (or snow!) to run around and get dirty until right about our usual bedtime, so that by the time we get home they’re all worked up and need a bath and don’t get to sleep until 9:00 or later, which means it’s impossible to wake them the next morning for school. Oh, and by the time this whole routine is done…so am I! I literally am falling asleep during bedtime story time and barely make it back to my own room in time to collapse into bed myself.

Okay, so whine, whine, you’re saying. Whatevs. It’s parenthood. Okay, you’ve got a point. I’m not going to take my kids out of soccer or any other activity because it cuts into my workout time, but the fact remains that I had a momentary loss of intelligence when I joined the gym in the middle of the busiest month of my life. Come to think of it, I’ve been having these intelligence gaps ever since I became pregnant with my first. Somewhere (can’t remember…big surprise) I read that pregnancy & breastfeeding actually INCREASES a woman’s intelligence. Ya figure? Why would they coin phrases like "placenta brain" and "mommy brain" if the experience were beneficial to IQ? NO WAY. Never have I been so forgetful, so disorganized, so…well…just plain stupid! And joining the gym last Wednesday was the perfect example.

*SIGH*

So, anyway, tomorrow is my lucky day because I’m NOT the carpool mom for my youngest’s last day of preschool, so I will find myself with a block of child-free time. Now…what to do with it?

– laundry
– extra work assignments I’ve been putting off for ages
– pay bills
– housework
– birthday party prep for said preschooler
– umm…there was something else…what was that thing that I forgot…?

OH YEAH!

I’ll go to the gym!