Making the Most of it Monday

We woke up this morning ready for our usual Monday: breakfast, walk the dogs, head to the gym, hit up the store, then home for lunch and a nap. Then, shortly after he left for work, I remembered my hubby had taken my car because he had been playing car surgeon working on his.

I need 500cc's of power steering fluid, stat!

This was at first perceived as a huge inconvenience. For starters, there wasn't really any breakfast in our house to be had. Then there were these ominous dark clouds on the horizon. But when my choices boiled down to moping around the house with nothing to eat but stale Mini Wheats and questionable-looking watermelon in the fridge or risking the weather to get in a short run to get some food and exercise, it took minutes for me to get laced up and strap my daughter in for an early morning ride.

So we ran to a nearby cafe for breakfast - a southwestern omelet with guacamole that was too huge even for both of us - then to Publix for dinner items and a few essentials. From there I power-walked to the bank (I'd have kept running, but I had two grocery bags and didn't want the jostling to shmoosh our strawberries) then back home so we could walk the dogs.

Since I still wanted a "legitimate" workout if I was going to forgo miles for being fuel-efficient, I figured I'd see how much longer we could push our luck with the weather and ran my daughter to a nearby playground. There, I did push-ups, modified pull-ups, dips, planks and suspended ab crunches.

Little Miss even got in on the action, trying her hand at holding a dead hang, adding resistance to my push-ups by trying to sit on my back, and then "racing" me around the playground. Especially now that she has her new kicks, she is ALL about trying to keep up with mommy!

Hoping to win my own pair of Kinvaras to match hers :)

All in all, a good fitness day. I didn't go run my usual eight miles, nor could I buy everything I wanted/needed at the grocery store because of capacity limitations with the stroller and shopping bags. Still, today was as much proof as any that fitness is about your lifestyle, not just picking a fad diet or workout trend to stick to for a few weeks. It's about knowing how to make the most of your day and doing something for yourself when thrown a minor curve ball. Sometimes it means pushing your child around town in the jogging stroller. Sometimes it might mean curling bottles of laundry detergent (I have done this). Just get creative, and make it fun. If you can find a way to involve your children, even better. Apparently playing games on the playground burns something like 220 calories and hour, so if you're tied to making sure your kids have had an activity-filled day, don't forget to get in on the action, too!

Have you tried to go car-less for a day and just run everywhere instead?

What's your favorite non-exercise exercise?