I was inspired by those fitness contestants at the last hotel I was visiting.  I bet some of you are wondering how that is working out for me.   Inspiration is not the same as execution.  Life tends to get in the way of working out, but part of this process is learning how to fit it all in.  So my first strategy is to remind myself to work out.  With chemo brain this can be hard so I place my puny 8lb weights on the corner of the kitchen counter.  That way I am visually reminded every time I walk in and out of the room.  With four kids I pass by them 100 times a day.  So even if I stop and do one set of anything a quarter of the times I walk by then I am getting in 25 possible sets!  I have upped the number of each arm exercise I do as I pass by and I am beginning to see changes in my arm musculature.  I am also, more importantly, able to lift our heavier pans with more ease.  So I plan to keep this up.  I am trying to get 3 sets of 15 of each exercise each day.  Each set may be hours apart, but 3 sets is better than no sets!

My running is getting to be more challenging as I have to run for at least 30 minutes vigorously to keep the joint pain at bay.  With the heat lately, I have been forced to do treadmill running, and there is a reason it is called the dreadmill.  It is so boring even with a movie on I can’t seem to keep my eyes away from that ridiculously slow-moving distance counter!  So I am excited for 3 kids to start soccer.  Now this might seem like a crazy statement, and I will admit I am fully capable of making crazy statements; but it’s true!  With three kids in soccer that is three practices a week.  That is three chances for me to run outside!!!!  It is boring to run around the soccer field a ton of times, but it is way more interesting than the dreadmill!  If I can get at least two of those days, plus a long run on the weekend, then I am sure I can see some positive changes!  I hope you all can maybe use one of these ideas to try to get some more optimized time also!  Happy workout!