Mama needs a Time Out!

On Saturday mornings I am often found hauling myself out of bed at 7am while the rest of the house is still slumbering. Sheer madness. This is also my one day a week where a sleep-in is even feasible and yet I'm getting up!! Double-madness, right?! Yet for some reason I do it... ok, not every week but most Saturdays when other commitments, life-busy-ness and family allow, and the call of my snuggly warm bed is not overwhelming, out of bed and the house I go. The reason I do it is to trot (or sluggishly crawl, as the case may be) off to Bootcamp at 7.30am on a local sports oval. 

Yes, I am one of those crazy people you drive past and laugh at - running around the oval, dragging tyres, boxing or doing sit ups. In the dead of winter we are doing the same but with beanie, scarf and gloves (as the ice on the grass tends to burn!). I know, I know, I am practically certifiable! Anyone who knows me 'in real life' will be either rolling in laughter right now or gaping in shock at the very idea of this - and trust me, I am too. I am sooooooo unsporty, I have never been to the gym, I am just not this active kind of girl - and yet here I am?! I think I have been going for about a year and a half?? (I'm shocked just calculating that!) I admit I like the variety and having an amazing trainer who keeps pushing me and encouraging me to do more. I also like just turning up, paying $10 (which we only have to pay when we go which suits me as I can't go every week), getting told what to do and just going hard for an hour... then done!

I am without doubt the least fit person in the group - the rest are basically gym-bunnies for whom Bootcamp is just a variation of their six-days-a-week fitness regime. I do this once every week or two (or three)... and I race around after two kids... but that's IT! At first I was mortified at how unfit I was compared to everyone else, but I just accepted it with a laugh, as this is already a huge step for me, and I am pretty darn proud of myself for going at all, actually! So it's fine to keep my own pace - and everyone is lovely and encouraging. The peer pressure helps too when I am gasping for breath and barely able to stand!

My weakness is running, I hate it and avoid it as much as possible.... yet today at the end of a gruelling session we were told to run around the oval 'to cool down' (HA!!) and I thought I would just walk most of it and yet... somehow my body just kept jogging the whole way.... without stopping. I was so shocked!! A personal best. I was just a little bit proud... hmm maybe this random exercise approach is slowly having some effect??!

Afterwards, I go to a local shopping strip and grab a cappuccino from a local cafe. This is my weekly 'me time' while Mark and the kids are having fun at home. Just to sit, read a magazine or book, sip a cappuccino and er... perhaps nibble a pastry (which, by the way, does not negate the workout if done within 30 minutes of exercise! Well, that's my theory!). Quiet time to chill without the constant interruptions of my beloveds.... bliss!! It might only be for 20-30mins but it is a much needed space in my week for which I am grateful and on some weeks, on which I truly depend!!

Afterwards, I go to my favourite local fruit and vegetable grocers to stock up for the week ahead and might even get to the supermarket if I have the time. Child-free grocery shopping is sooooo much quicker, huh!

Shout-out to my incredible husband of course, who strongly encourages and supports me in having this 'time out' while also enjoying special Daddy-time with the kids at home (and often also cleaning the house/mowing the lawn etc too - yep, he is amazing!). 

I might feel like a mad-woman when I drag myself out of bed at dawn, but when I am coming home after exercising, coffee, reading and purchasing food for the week ahead, I feel like a new-woman! Refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to embrace my beloved family once more and dive into our tumultuous weekend!