Decisions

First off be sure to check out my guest post today over at Half Size Me.  Thanks to Heather for giving me the opportunity to share my story ;).

I was trying to decide whether it would be better to run today and have a rest day tomorrow (the day before my race), or have a rest day today and run tomorrow - but I think my evening meal has made that decision for me!  I made one of my favourite low cal main courses - Goan Prawn Curry.  I've added the recipe to my recipes tab and really recommend it - it's quite spicy but can be calmed down for little ones, if needed.  Trouble is - a belly full of curry and rice doesn't sit well with an evening run :(.  I actually think it would be better to run tomorrow anyway - a sort of "warm up" before the race on Friday.

My kids go back to school on Monday, so tomorrow I have a day off tomorrow and plan to try to get everything organised then.  My son needs new trainers and I'm sure they both need various bits of stationery - so I will doubtlessly be traipsing around all those shops!  I'm determined this year to not be the disorganised mother!  We shall see how long that lasts and I'm sure I'll be complaining on here about something I've forgotten or something that has been misplaced!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After my post yesterday, I've been doing a little research about the gym near where I live and have found that it's £37 per month for all activities (or £33 for one activity - which would mean that I could ONLY go to the gym, I couldn't do any of the fitness classes, or swim).  In the whole scheme of things, £37 per month for the gym, here in England anyway, it darn right cheap.  Most gyms charge £50 upwards per month and many of them don't have pools or fitness studios.  So, I suppose it is good value for money.

Source

By comparison, your average treadmill costs in the region of £400-600 and some of those don't even have an incline!  Plus, I started thinking that my track record with personal gym equipment has not been the best.  First - there was the rickety old exercise bike (and the freezing cold garage in winter), then there was the mediocre cross-trainer.  I'm sure there was a rower in there somewhere too...  All of them were either consigned to the scrapheap, or sold on eBay for a small percentage of what I paid for them. Paying monthly for a gym membership, that I can literally cancel during the summer months when I love exercising outside, definitely seems to be the way to go.

I appreciate this is quite a stark contrast to my previous post, No Gym Membership Required, and I don't mean to be a hypocrite here.  My main reasons for hating the gym have been motivated by saving money and not feeling that I have to compare myself with others.  Somehow I'm going to have to overcome that last one!  As mentioned in yesterday's post, I really don't want to give myself any excuses for stopping running simply because there's not enough daylight!