Have You Seen My Marbles?

Have you seen my marbles? Because I seem to have lost them. I met up with a mom friend (Hi Lauren!) and her toddler son at the Bay Area Discovery Museum for some fun in the sun and to distract from my kids not having their dad around this weekend. It was slightly hectic, as it usually is trying to track two toddlers moving in two different directions. At one point we decided to go to another part of the museum and I asked Lauren, "where's Marek?".  Wait for it...I was holding him! This beats asking where my sunglasses are when they're on my head, or looking for my cell to put something in my calendar while I'm talking on the darn thing. This is a 35 pound kid that I was both carrying and looking for at the same time. Someone should probably take my driver's license away.

I think I'm operating on some kind of system overload a fair amount of the time. I know it will get easier as my children get older, and I know that will happen in the blink of an eye so I just try to go easy on myself and not judge too harshly. At least I didn't lose him this time.

Keeping the whole family/work thing rolling is no easy task and I can't imagine how I'd feel if I weren't exercising. I suspect I'd be doing a lot of self soothing with food. Heck, I do a fair amount of that now. What I save in groceries alone probably covers the monthly gym costs. I know I write about this exercise is keeping me sane theme a lot but holding the benefits of exercise in the forefront of my mind helps with the motivation.

Alright, on to the meat and potatoes. I made it to the gym yesterday and did a 2 mile run on the treadmill in a little more than 32 minutes. I was doing 5.0, 5.5, and 6mph speeds, alternating every minute or so, at 1% incline. I was pressed for time or I might have done a little more than 2 miles. Might. Then I did legs/shoulders/core for strength training. I've added in some of the Swiss ball exercises the trainer gave me, and dropped some too. So far I've dropped the Alternating Superman (too easy/boring) and the Reverse Bridge Straight Leg Raise (too boring/time consuming). I don't like exercises where you have to hold each rep for 5 seconds. I get bored. I guess I like to keep moving. Once I've made my final decisions on the new Swiss Ball stuff I will have to update my current workout post.

Speaking of the Swiss Ball - I found something new that I did today. But before that, a quick gym rundown. My mom came over and I headed to the gym after putting the kids down for their naps. I did 25 minutes on the upright bike, Level 6, and I'm getting more serious about making the jump to Level 7. Level 6 just isn't packing the same difficulty punch it used to. But I'm not in a hurry so I'll observe a little bit longer. After the bike it was on to chest/triceps/core. 

So Ian, the trainer, was there and I asked him about this Swiss ball exercise I've seen other people doing. Turns out it's called the Jackknife (I love that name). He asks if I want him to show me how to do 'em.  Yes indeed.  I get into position and whip out 10 of these suckers and hop up with a red face and my heart pumping.  I love them!  I don't quite look like this woman when I do them but that's ok, I can do them.  In fact, I don't think I want to know what I look like when I do them.  Besides, hard core, that is.  I did another set of 10 later and have officially added these to the ab rotation.

After the gym my mom and I took the kids out to dinner.  I wanted Mexican food because I knew I'd eat healthier there but her stomach's been upset so we went to a diner.  And I had a burger.  with fries.  The burger was really good (carmelized onions, cheese, jalapenos and a spicy aioli, yum!) but the fries were mediocre.  I shouldn't have eaten as many as I did but such is life.  I should get a "life is too short for bad french fries" bumper sticker.

Well, it's getting near 10pm.  I've been trying to do a better job of going to bed at a decent hour so I'm calling it a day.  I had a good idea for what to do with the kids tomorrow but for the life of me can't remember.  My mom has already agreed to stay long enough for me to go to the gym so at least that's covered.  Man, this weekend is flying by!