Returning to Family Fun & Fitness

Part of our decision in moving to San Diego was the idea that our new lifestyle would afford us more recreational time as a family. Pastoral ministry is not 9-5. Not complaining but stating a fact. Couple that with a self-described workaholic husband and you see where I’m headed here. We needed to make a change to improve our family’s physical and emotional health. I’m not suggesting that pastoral ministry can’t be balanced or that changing careers is the only solution. I’m just saying that we saw the opportunity and decided to run with it.

When we lived in Michigan the summer months were my primary time for exercise. I enjoyed setting goals and pushing my body to do things I hadn’t considered possible – like running a half-marathon last October. This summer I didn’t have a plan. My runs were inconsistent and reality of moving was taking it’s toll emotionally. My weight steadily increased as I compensated with food. My “new healthy lifestyle” was not off to a good start. Identifying what was broken was easy. Fixing would require more effort.

1) When we moved I wasn’t ready to jump immediately back into running. But I missed my routine so I started taking long walks through the neighborhood. We live on a hill surrounded by more hills. One particular hill is a killer on my calves. I hadn’t considered walking a serious form of exercise until last year when I was being passed by walkers during the half-marathon. I will never doubt again. The side benefit of walking is that I’ve gotten to explore my neighborhood.

2) For the first time ever our family joined a community center. Adam and I have been taking turns waking up early during the week to take advantage of the fitness and aquatic center. Adam prefers swimming laps while I’ve been having fun exercising on the treadmill and elliptical trainer. I decided to try swimming this morning and I realized how much upper body strenght is required…My arms are going to be sore in the morning! Being at the gym at 5:30 in the morning hasn’t been too much of a stretch. I’ve been having trouble sleeping and burning off some extra energy helps me get a better night’s sleep. But no matter how hard I try I just haven’t managed to sleep-in past 6:30 a.m.

A few times a week we take the kids to the recreational pool. I think that between the pool and the beach I have gone swimming more times in one month of living here than in five years of living in Michigan. The kids are having a blast. When we moved here they didn’t know how to swim. They had always been confident in the water because they wore life jackets but we were told that life jackets weren’t allowed in the pool. At first the kids were timid and sat on the steps. Less than one week later both kids started swimming on their own (I think seeing an 18-month old swimming in the pool made them realize that they could learn too). They are so proud of themselves that they commissioned new names. Megan’s pool name is Princess Guppy and Paul is Prince Dolphin.

3) Accountability helps. I am a twitter fan. Right before moving I signed up for Tweightloss – a group of men and women on twitter wanting to lose weight. I am on one of several teams competing to lose the most amount of weight as a team. It’s “the biggest loser” concept in action on a smaller, friendlier scale. The best part is that I’ve gotten to meet a great bunch of new people.

4) Living near the beach doesn’t hurt either. The final element in my return to fitness involves the entire family and the beach. The newness of living in beach territory hasn’t worn off yet. We have been to the beach every Sunday since living here and some days in between. Stoney even gets in action too at the local dog beach where he can run free from his leash. He loves the sand but not the water. Go figure? Jumping waves, looking for pretty shells and learning how to ride a boogie board is fun & fitness for everyone.