A couple of years ago I remember getting out of the shower, looking at my stomach in the mirror and realizing I was no longer the young man who could eat three cheeseburgers without consequences. Not only was I far from my 20-year-old physique, I had slipped from “Dadbod” to straight up “Tubby”. I had a full-on gut and it was time to do something about it.
Running had been something I enjoyed in High School and College, so it was a natural fallback for me. I set a goal to run my 5th marathon the following summer. I pulled out the old Altra’s and started jogging before work each morning, sticking to a regimented training plan. As well as this went during the summer months, winter told another story. Temperatures dropped, the sun slept late, and my motivation to brave the outdoors fatigued.
1: This dad does not have the free time necessary for marathon training.
This was the first lesson I learned as I trained for my first marathon since becoming a husband and a father. Time was no longer on my side. With higher priorities including work and the needs of my family, squeezing in a quick run, let alone the weekend’s “long run” was nearly impossible if I couldn’t manage to knock it out in the early morning.
2: However, this dad can’t afford to NOT train for a marathon.
While magically making more time in my day for running wasn’t an option, I also knew that if I didn’t find a way to incorporate more movement and physical stimulation into my daily routine would lead to serious issues. As we age, it’s crucial to keep working at our physical strength and mental stamina. Without it, our bodies suffer physically (heart disease, high blood pressure, joint pain, weight gain) and mentally (depression, self-defeat, anxiety, and stress). At the very least, I knew I needed to build up my health so I could keep up with my kids. I didn’t want to be the dad they talked about as adults who always sat in “his” chair watching sports and yelling at everyone to be quiet.
How would I make training for a marathon happen? How would I prioritize my health and time alongside the other important parts of my life?
3: My monthly budget doesn’t want to add an expensive gym membership to it.
Around the same time I was working to improve my physical health, my wife and I were also re-dedicating ourselves to improve our family’s financial health. With the help of financial consultants, inspiring podcasts, and highly-rated how-to books, we had reduced our monthly spending, eliminated huge chunks of our credit card debt, and increased investments to our savings, emergency funds, and retirement accounts. Adding another monthly bill to our budget was extremely unappealing at this point. And when considering the long-term effects of a gym membership versus a reliable home treadmill, we found that purchasing our own home equipment was much more affordable. So the decision to buy a home treadmill was made. This has not only helped me to incorporate the time necessary for marathon training, it’s also provided a great mode of entertainment and exercise for our entire family.
4: I can do hard things.
Throughout this process, I learned that with time and a little extra brainstorming, I can meet seemingly impossible goals with a little problem-solving. Learning to manage my time effectively to incorporate marathon training was the first hurdle. Figuring out the tools I needed to solve this problem was the second. Finding a way to afford these tools was the third. Each one of these problems eventually ended with great solutions, putting me on my way to regaining my running abilities and better health.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
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