I took the plunge!

Well, I did it. (Emily here, btw). I took the plunge. I actually joined a gym. I have been toying with the idea of joining one for over a year, and I just couldn't justify spending the money on it. But, with two kids I have found it very difficult to fit in a workout and take care of them. I hate, hate, hate the treadmill at my house. And with the cold weather (btw, it's -2F where I am right now) I have a hard time getting motivated to go run outside :) Enter the gym idea. I called around to pretty much every gym in my town to get prices on enrollment, membership, and childcare. What surprised me was that Gold's Gym was actually the cheapest of my options. When I looked into it over a year ago, I would be paying $65 a month for membership and childcare. They changed their pricing though and it's actually quite a bit less this year! I figure I can go any time I want and not have to work out someone to watch the kids. If I am having a bad day, I can just take them there and go work out for while. Plus, my friend Sarah (who ran the Resolution Run with me) is one of the instructors there. I talked to my husband about it, and he was totally on board! So, I joined yesterday. I'm excited because it locks me in for the year too, so if I want to get my money's worth I better go work out regularly! I took a cycling class yesterday and also did my 2.8 miles for the day. I am horribly behind right now because I have been very sick (I'll talk more about that on the 22nd). But, I figure it was worth it to get started again and just go! I also had a little emotional high during the class yesterday. My foot kept slipping out of the pedal when we had to stand on the bike, and the girl next to me asked if I was okay. I just told her my foot kept slipping but I got it fixed and that it was my first time. She was amazed that it was my first time and asked if I did other cardio work. I told her I ran and she replied that she was amazed that I could just jump in and handle a cycling class that well already! I was elated to say the least! Plus she is super nice and we agreed the next class to exchange email addresses so we can run together sometimes :) Yay for making new friends! I took the cycling class again today because Sarah was the instructor, and I plan on it again on Saturday. It totally killed my thighs and my calves, but I can feel them really getting stronger and tighter. I am hoping this will help my endurance and my speed a lot for future races. If I can run a 5k under 30 minutes I will be so incredibly happy! I will definitely still make sure to do my miles, but I feel like this is what I need to get that extra boost and strength training. I will keep you updated on my progress!