The end of a streak- and a new challenge!

Sometime early in November, I realised I'd exercised every day of the month so far. So I decided why not keep it up? I recruited Lizzy to join me, and together we ran, swam, walked and yoga'd our way through the month of November.


Until Monday, when my streak came to an end.

I'd been struggling with the streak for a week or so. Work, midwife and testing appointments, ante-natal classes and things were starting to pile up. Last Wednesday I was out of the house at 6:30 to make it to the lab for my glucose screening test. I worked til 5:30 or so, got home a little after 6, caught up on the chores (after a weekend away and long days on Monday and Tuesday there was a bit to do) and got dinner, so we'd just have to heat it up when Phil got back from the airport. I then had 25 minutes to squeeze in an at home workout before driving to the airport to collect him. So I did it- and that's good, cos something is better than nothing. But it was that point that I realised my streak was starting to interfere with my sanity. It had stopped being about making exercise a priority, and had turned into being about sticking doggedly to an arbitrary plan.
On Sunday after W2K and the hot trip home from Taupo, I was so tired I collapsed on the couch while Phil did the groceries. Then we prepared tonight's dinner (we're having people to stay), ate Sunday's dinner, and I fell into bed and slept, and slept. There was no way I was working out on Monday morning, and I spent lunchtime at the midwife's, worrying because dear Chip had been uncommonly quiet. The extreme couch time on Sunday meant we still had to tidy up both guest rooms (making up beds, removing clothes horses and so on), unpack and do laundry after the weekend away, and just generally catch up. I soon realised starting that process after swimming (i.e. about 7:30) was going to be a Bad Idea. Plus, I had a feeling that Chip's quietness was related to my big walk and overall fatigue, despite my midwife's assurances to the contrary.

So, with a little sadness, I decided to flag my 28/11 workout, and devote my evening to vacuuming, laundering and bed-making. And I feel a million times better for it. I'm disappointed that I couldn't keep my streak going, but at the end of the day I've also got to be a lawyer, wife, host, and weekend holiday-er, and I've got to be even smarter about how I use my time, because I'm also a Chip-baker.

But because I still love arbitrary meaningless goals...details of my Advent Exercise Challenge to come!