*This is a guest post by my friend, Rebecca. When I started seeing her tweets about “driving home from the gym” at 5:45am (just as I was getting up & out the door to my own gym), I had to ask her how she does it. As a busy mom of three, I knew she would have some insight for readers who are moms or those who just feel like they don’t have enough time! That’s the thing about your health — you make time. You should see this girls’ race schedule for the year!
by Rebecca Wales
I get a lot of “You’re INSANE!” when I tell people I get up at 4:00am every day to workout. But 98% of the people that tell me that are either not working moms of 3 young girls or are not triathletes. I’m a wannabe tri-mom. This January, I decided that I was bored – with pretty much everything – and desperately needed a challenge. So, I decided to sign up for a lot of events I had never even considered doing before in 2012 and to see what happened:
- two half marathons
- two sprint triathlons
- two marathons
- two Olympic triathlons.
It’s going to be an awesome 2012.
I am a busy woman. I am a public relations executive, I help run a grassroots women’s group, I’m a mom, and I’m a wife. But I need ME time. And I take it when I can, which happens to be at 4:00am. From 4-6:00, I run and I lift. I swim and I sweat. I work on me, inside and out.
Sure, coughs and fevers sometimes interrupt it, a press release that has to get out first thing might keep me from a swim practice, but most of the time, that alarm goes off and I’m ready to go. I’m the girl bundled against the elements with the reflective vest, running before I go to the gym as it opens. I’m the girl rubbing sleep out of her eyes along with all the rest jumping in the pool that hurries home to shower, giving sleepy kids a kiss as they eat their cereal, yelling at them to hurry and get dressed…knowing I’m running late already because I stopped to talk to someone about T2 (that’s transition 2 during a tri… oh, the things I’m learning!).
I’m a better worker bee, mom, wife and friend when I workout. I had to lose a
lot of weight and learned then that while I do this for me, it also does help to set a healthy example for my kids. This Sunday, I compete (which I say
very lightly) in my first triathlon and when I cross the finish line (I hope), I know it is Rebecca finishing it, not mom. Way to go, me.
Turns out — she did cross that finish line 🙂 See here:
*You can follow Rebecca on Twitter @Becs09.
