Sweating the Small Stuff

I was living what I blog about this morning.

Real life. Finding fitness in the chaos of motherhood.

Especially on a day like today when I did not set my alarm to get up before the sun. Instead I woke to the sounds--for real--of runners trotting on the path behind my house. We slept with the windows open last night and it's usually mourning doves, sometimes an owl, even turkeys that make enough racket to wake me. But this morning, it was definitely runners. Talking, laughing, even their footfalls were audible. It was insulting on several levels.

I made a pot of coffee and wondered where to start.

We had been gone almost a week, dealt with a near family catastrophe, discovered water pooling in our basement thanks to a sick air conditioner, and had an almost flat tire on the family car. There was an article for me to finalize and daughters to take to vacation bible school by 9 a.m. That was just the stuff on the top of the list.

Here is where it is tempting to say: "Work out? Seriously? How?"

For me, though, this is the perfect example of a time when a workout will reap benefits because of all that is going on. Adding a workout to my list won't be stress inducing, it will be stress reducing. It's what I call sweating the small stuff, in a good way.

Getting my kids to vacation bible school safely required getting the tire fixed. We happen to have an auto shop about a mile away, which opened at 7, which is where I was with my running shoes on. I had 30 minutes. Either the car would be done and I'd drive it home, or it wouldn't and I'd run home, then run back after The Boy's babysitter arrived at 8:30.

Ready. Set. Go!

Run 1/2 mile
40 walking lunges
Run 1/4 mile
20 box jumps on small retaining wall
Run 1/4 mile
20 squats
Run 1/4 mile
20 pushups
20 mountain climbers
Run 1/4 mile
20 one-legged lunges with back leg propped on short fence
Run 1/2 mile

The car wasn't ready. Bonus!

Run 1 mile home.
Kiss husband good-bye.
Feed The Boy Breakfast.
"Mommy, why are you wet?" he asked.
"Because I'm a Hot (Sweaty) Mama," I said.
Cut up watermelon for later and eat while cutting.
Put washed wet clothes in dryer. (Yes! I thought to start a load before leaving!)
Get girls up.
Tell sitter what's what.

Go!

Run 1 mile to auto shop. Drive home. Get on with the rest of our day.

Where can you squeeze 15, 20, or 30 minutes of exercise into your day? Take that workout and modify it to fit your busy schedule. Walk instead of run, or if you can't leave your house, jump rope or hula hoop instead of run. Do fewer reps if you need to, or more if you want to.

Whatever you do, take some time to sweat the small stuff!