Tread lightly

Move that body: 40-minute run (3 walk breaks totaling 3 minutes)

It wasn’t the rain that had me second-guessing my plan to run this morning. Oh no, I swear it wasn’t the rain.

It was something else, a little more internal. Like somewhere between my waist and my thighs. At least that’s how I described it to Mark when he asked for my “agenda” at 6:45 a.m.

“You know … there is another option,” he said.

“I know, I know. I can walk the dog. Less jiggling of organs,” I replied.

“Nope. That’s not the option.”

“I don’t want to go to the Groupon gym – it’s too far from the new house.”

“Wrong again,” he said.

He had the nerve to tell me I was wrong … TWICE. Apparently, he wanted spaghetti squash all next week for dinner.

And then he clued me in …

There’s a treadmill in our basement!

Mark’s parents were kind enough to give us the beauty. Now, before you go asking why they were willing to give me us a treadmill and not sponsor me for Madrid, let me tell you two things:

1. This treadmill was not new when I met Mark 5 years ago.

2. Moving the treadmill from their house frees them up to set up a “baby-sitting station.”

Nonetheless, it was free and it allowed me to run this morning without fear of messing myself. I could merely stop, run up the stairs (keeping up the cardio), go to the bathroom and return to the basement to resume my run.

Don’t I look excited? I was. I swear.

I started with a 1-minute walk, turned up the speed and ran for 10 minutes. I walked another minute, ran 5 and walked another minute. That put me at 18 minutes total. After that, I just ran. I got to the point where I thought if I took a walk break that I wouldn’t want to run again.

To keep myself entertained and sane, I brought down my laptop and listened to the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.

Oh, that on my laptop? It’s my tank. What can I say - it got hot in the basement! And the perk of running by yourself in the basement means that you can take off your shirt if your hot. Taking your shirt off on the street, 30 weeks pregnant or not, is never an option on the street.

Yay for sweating in the basement! Yay for the treadmill!

Note: I didn’t really pay attention to distance as I’m not convinced the treadmill is calibrated correctly. For goodness sake, it said I burned 505 calories in 40 minutes. I just care that I ran 37 minutes out of 40.

How do you manage workouts when things get in your way, like illness or life?

Three Things Thursday

Move that body: Quick upper body circuit w/ 5- and 10-pound weights and a 1.5-mile walk with Denali. Maybe we’ll do a second walk or some post-dinner yard play.

1. Someone was a movin’ and a groovin’ this morning.

And it wasn’t me.

And it wasn’t Denali.

It seems baby boy was listening to some Young Dro and wanted to do the shoulder lean. I’m not sure how to describe the feeling of him moving back and forth across but I can tell you that it will make you not sleep. And slightly nauseous.

2. Even though I was up a good half-hour earlier than normal, I could not get motivated this morning. I bargained with myself, subbing out Jackie Warner with a DIY weight set with George. I made sure to work each of the following muscle groups at least twice: biceps, triceps, shoulders and back. I did three sets for each exercise*, the first two sets with 15 reps and 5-pound weights and the last set with 10-12 reps and 10-pound weights. Ouch!

*The exercises: Bicep curl followed by shoulder press; row followed by tricep kickback; standing hammer curl with overhead press followed by tricep extensions; and rear fly.

3. Anyone catch that RnR is doing a marathon in Madrid in 2012?

Yeah. It’s pretty awesome.

While I’ve been planning to run my first 26.2 in Chicago in 2012, I am dying to run this. I’ve wanted to go to Madrid since I saw Gwyneth and Mario tour Spain on PBS, and what better way to explore a city than by running it?! Now, it’s likely that I’d have to leave baby boy with Grams and Gramps and it’s completely unlikely that I’ll win the lottery to participate in such a race but I’m obsessed.

Anyone want to sponsor me?