Walking

I've been struggling with some weight gain since the winter, so I was excited to start a new walking routine in April. Vanessa recommended an iPhone app called 'MapMyRun'. Using MMR I can record the route, pace, and distance of the walks we take. At the end of every week I get a summary showing the number of workouts, distance, hours spent exercising, and calories burned. This summary is very motivating for me!

Our new weekend routine is that when the kids get up from their nap around 4pm we pack a snack and go on a long walk. My goal is 2.5 miles, which takes us about 45 minutes. Our neighborhood is very hilly and the stroller with the kids in it weighs about 90 pounds, so it's quite a workout for me! The kids will sing songs if prompted when I walk up really big hills (and I feel like I'm going to die pushing the stroller). During the walk MMR announces when we hit another mile and the kids love this. They call the voice 'mom' and they cheer and say, "1 mile!" or "2 miles!".

The kids come up with lots of imaginative stuff to talk about and they narrate our entire walk. Today we walked down a shady street with big trees and they said we were going through a tunnel and that there was a giant coming. They kept saying they were scared, but were giggling the entire time.

S&Z are such troopers at this age to tolerate these long walks 3 days in a row every week in the stroller. I have explained that mommy needs the exercise and they seem to appreciate that this is really good for me. I ask them what we should do when they wake up from their nap, and they excitedly say "walk 2 miles!!". In exchange for going on the long walks, we head straight to the backyard to play when we get home.

I decided this week that I am also going to leave work 10 minutes earlier than normal and walk to the train station (1.7 mi) instead of taking a bus. In total I have walked over 14 miles this week! And I couldn't do it without my best little workout buddies :)