Running in Circles

My baby is almost a year old.  I cannot believe this to be true but the calendar tells me it certainly is.  November 14.  And he is so fabulously adorable (suprise, suprise) and round and happy. 

I am also round.  In the past the baby weight has just sort of come off in the first year.  But perhaps at age 34 with 3 kids and our daily walk(s) are at a snail's pace of cracking walnut shells and examining leaves and stopping for fairy-house building and playing in the irrigation ditch....the baby weight mostly came off but I am left with a good 10 lbs to go. 

I must say here that pre-children I was a bit obsessed.  I had to be a certain weight or below and I acted accordingly.  I ate sparingly and exercised a lot.  I also lived in Manhattan where I walked everywhere.  Miles a day.  Quickly (because everything was always in a rush there).  On top of the 2-6 miles I would run everyday (mostly it was 2 but one year I was training for a half-marathon and got up to 6 before I realized I had a concert that conflicted with the marathon date). 

Now I live in a land of minivans and parking lots.  And even though we walk when we can (to the library, to the toy store, to the video store, to the park(s), to maintain sanity...) I am just not that focused, driven, obsessed-with-body-image 20-year-old that I once was.  Thank goodness! in many ways.  It was not all that healthy mentally. 

So I've been struggling with how to get some exercise in.  My baby half-wakes at 5am and nurses ravenously (though sleepily) for 2 hours.  If I try to slip out of bed he puts up quite the fuss.  So early-morning gym is not going to happen yet.  The elliptical in the tv room that I bought, planning to use at night is just not working because by the time the kids are asleep I am in no mood to put on my sweaty-clothes and MOVE for 30 minutes.  Too tired.  That's where the too-much-chocolate-ice-cream-at-night comes in, too.  "Oh, I feel so tired....instead of GOING TO SLEEP maybe I'll have a bit of ice-cream...just a bit, of course (!)". (maybe this isn't the pinnacle of mental health, either...)

So I've found a solution that will last at least until it gets really cold.  (Other than not buying ice cream anymore...) I run around the block.  My neighborhood has become my track.  My kids watch a half hour of PBS in the morning and I put the baby in the stroller and run.....round and around....checking on the house each time I do.  We have a signal for if-help-is-needed.  It's working for me, so far....though I still struggle each week as I pass the ice-cream aisle.