Simple Fun and Teamwork for Fitness

On Saturday, Laxsupermom at Sugar & Spice in the Land of Balls & Sticks wrote about her new dedication to exercise as part of her "me time," and attention to her health.  She goes to the gym with a buddy who helps keep her accountable, and the two of them have signed up to run a 5K!  Impressive.

I am not a runner.  Most of my family loves to run... and run... and run... and run.  My sports of choice when I was younger were softball and racquetball.  Running was to get to a ball, or make it safely to base.  Running forever to nowhere for no urgent reason is beyond my comprehension.  I've come to believe I don't produce endorphins, just fatigue. ;-)

But I've known I need to add exercise to my routine for a long while.  I am quickly running out of time to keep my body strong and flexible for the upcoming decades.  I've tried different videos, but with a lack of time and maneuvering space (OK, and also motivation), none seemed to be the answer.  I've worked out a routine of exercises I like for strengthening my core, but none to fulfill my doctor's request that I practice a weight-bearing exercise, which, apparently, requires being on my feet... Until now.

It's all thanks to Prince CuddleBunny and his discovery of an old jump rope during my week's break from blogging.  He first started working on getting the skill down, then kept track of his successive-jumps-without-misses, working each time for a personal best.  He asked if I knew how to jump rope and wanted to see if I could do as many jumps in a row. 





It turns out that a learning, growing, almost-8-year-old, and a tired, out-of-practice, former-jump-rope-expert, almost-52-year-old are an almost even match in this activity.  We have similar 'records' at this point.  It's interesting that he can only jump backward, and I mostly only jump frontward.  He was so excited about us doing this together, he had me sign a 30-day contract.  We can actually do this in the non-snowy indoors, which makes it easy to pick up at a moment's notice, sometimes a couple of times a day.

In case you were waiting to see photos of me doing this... I'll tell you now that just isn't going to happen.  :-)