Thursday, May 22, 2008

Feeling Cross

Often, the brilliant minds over at Runners' Lounge seem to be able to see exactly what's on my mind. Almost as if there were some thing on the internet where they could read my thoughts; I don't know how they do it.

Anyway, this week for Take It and Run Thursday, the theme is Cross Training. To be honest, I'm really not into it. Like Tom said a few days ago, "I'd rather be running." But now that I'm about to start using FIRST for this fall's marathon, cross training is going to be an essential part of my preparation.

I know what I need to do: bike, swim, or maybe walk. And I get why - it'll help strengthen my body and allow me to have "active rest." I'm just not enthusiastic about it. If only my regular life could be considered cross training. Thus, I propose Betsy's Real Life Cross Training Program:


  • Carrying all of the groceries into the house in one trip.

  • Having endless "battle fights" with Jack and his ever-growing collection of toy swords. Bonus effort points for not losing my mind in boredom.

  • Shoveling snow. Sure, it's May, but I'm not convinced it won't snow again, like, tomorrow, given the winter we had.

  • Cooking dinner with one 30+ pound boy hanging on my leg.

  • Not making sarcastic comments when it would be inappropriate to do so, tempting though it might be, particularly at work.

  • Folding and putting away laundry.

  • Suffering through "Your call is very important to us" on-hold purgatory.

  • Updating my blog entries (though considering this is my first post since Friday, I might have to focus on other things).

  • Lugging Jack to my mom's house on days in which he insists that I carry his gigantic bag of toys, Roary and three other stuffed animals who are now Roary's good friends and Roary cannot stand to be parted from them, a huge toy pirate ship, two costumes, a snack, and Jack himself, whose desire to be carried is not so strong that he stops squirming.



Does any of that count?

9 comments:

Lauren @ mostly i run said...

I'm sure there has to be some health benefit to a lot of your proposed cross-training options!

Tree said...

yes yes yes

I am totally not into it, either.

I *know* there are benefits to all of those cross-training activities!

Meg said...

A moving, resisting, 30 lb weight totally trumps any weights or machines you can find at the gym!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! Including blog updates as cross training. I love it.

Razz said...

wow. I do more cross training than I thought! I especially kick arse during the no-sarcasm workout.

Anonymous said...

Ha! I love it! Especially cooking dinner with a 30lb boy hanging on your leg. I feel like I'm already working your Real Life Cross Training Program! Thanks for making me feel much better!

Nat said...

Too funny! See now this is my kind of X-training.

Nancy said...

The most strenuous of those has to be holding your tongue when you totally have the best insult at the ready. :D I wish it counted.

Unknown said...

My cross-training includes the following: trying not to trip over the piles of clothes/paperwork stacked up since I'm too busy running to do housework; stooping down to clean up the cat barf now that it's prime shedding season; and lugging up all my summer running gear from the basement.