Zumba!

I went to Zumba tonight. To be honest, if it wasn't for meeting a friend there I probably would have curled up on the couch with the remote and a buffet of snacks while I lamented the plague that has buried itself deep in my chest.

This time last year I was getting up early in the mornings to walk in the cold. I'd get up at 5:30 or 6 in the morning and walk laps around the block until I had to be home so that Steven could get to work. Last winter I was constantly going to multiple fitness classes a week: Lean & Fit, Zumba, Aquafit (only once because it sucks) and yoga. I snuck over to the running track a couple of times a week to run laps around the kids playing or practicing hockey, to the tune of the hilarious parents who wanted me to fetch their errant toddlers the next time I went around.

This year? If it wasn't for gaining back 17 of the 29 pounds I lost in the last 15 months I'd probably just lay on the couch covered with chip crumbs and slopped dip.

I love chips.

I also loved being 17 pounds less. It's time to get it back.

Zumba was fun tonight, and I'm glad I went. Someone had to make sure that Steph wore shoes, and I got a good workout out of it as well.

I'll definitely be doing the Manitoba Half Marathon again this year, and if I don't take the summer off to eat 'smores (read: 17 pounds) and actually keep up my running schedule I'd like to do the Treherne Run for the Hills Half too. Apparently that one is a little different being that it's on gravel roads and is quite hilly. I'm going to go for it. If I end up rolling down into a ditch in a cream-cheese-cinnamon-bun-induced-coma it'll just help to illustrate the fact that slacking on the running schedule in favor of eating is probably not the healthy-lifestyle way to go.

My goal for the Manitoba Half is to do it in under two hours. That means I have to knock off at least 8 minutes from my last year's time. So far I can set the treadmill at that pace for a mile or two, but it kind of kicks the shit out of the rest of my run. Something to work on.

I do like running. I'd prefer to run outside, but in the meantime I have this handy little hamster wheel in the basement that'll get me similar results, at least until the ice (?) disappears.

Speaking of winter (I have a certain affection for segues* that really suck), I really should take a picture of my backyard for those of you who perhaps don't live near here. Then I should dig up a picture of my back yard from last winter. It looks like October outside right now, with a smattering of snow desperately hanging on. We actually have 2/3 of a snowman still sitting out there. My darling daughter evilly decapitated him and blamed it on the December thaw. I don't know where she gets her evil streak (heh heh heh).

Where was I? Right. Exercise. Running. I have got to get back at it. For real. If anyone ever wants to kill an hour and run a few laps at the track let me know. I'm game.

*As an English major I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I misspelled segue so wrong that the spell check was at a loss for suggestions.
** Brownie points if you can figure out the paragraph that I added in  after I finished the blog. Not that it's awkward or anything.