mother running 5K

As the busy mother of three young children, finding time to exercise can sometimes seem impossible.

I found that I had to be very creative in finding time and exercises that worked for me and my family.

I had a baby just over a year ago and wanted to get back into shape and lose some previous baby weight. I didn’t have the energy I once had and wanted to get that back.

I decided that I would begin by using a popular program called Couch to 5K. I had run in high school and like running so I began with this.

I would get up early in the morning before my children were awake. This meant leaving the house around 6 am.

Luckily, I had a friend who decided to join me and that made all the difference. Knowing she would be waiting for me made me more consistent in exercising.

This program consisted of intervals of walking and running. Both of us are in our 30s and she had never run in her life except when being chased.

We went in all kinds of weather and just needed our running shoes with the occasional set of spikes so we didn’t fall on the ice in the winter.

We usually went for around 30 to 45 minutes every day but Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes we did sprints and sometimes just slow easy jogs.

We set a goal to run in a local race and this provided additional motivation. We thought we could just do the 5K run, but by the time the race rolled around 6 months later, we were both racing in the 10K.

My friend has five children and she just wanted to get more energy, lose a little weight and feel better. I had the same goals.

I’ve continued getting up early to get my exercise in and it makes my days run more smoothly.

A few of the obstacles I’ve had to overcome are motivating myself to go, dealing with inclement weather by layering up, and exercising when my husband wasn’t around to be with my children.

I’ve found ways to do this by taking my children with to the local track for example or having a neighbor come and watch my kids while they are in bed asleep in the evenings.

As a woman, if you truly want to do something you can find a way to do it.