Olympic spirit

We've definitely got Olympic fever in our family.  We went to see the torch go through our area on Monday and the men's cycling road race yesterday, the TV is on  all day and we're channel-hopping between events, and we have tickets for rowing, canoeing and synchronised swimming.


The thing that really inspires me about all the athletes is their discipline, endurance, long-term vision and planning.  It is an attitude that I should try and adopt a bit more when it comes to exercising.  I exercise because I want to be healthy and I want to set a good example to my girls.  I can't really say that I enjoy it, although I do enjoy the benefits of it (social as well as physical), and so I can be easily persuaded to put-off a workout at home.  My reasons are mainly excuses: I'm too tired; I've only just eaten; I've got other things to do; I can't put on my workout DVD because my husband is watching TV...


Athletes don't become Olympians by skipping the bits of their training that they don't like and I will never be a truly fab fit mum if I continue to eat ice cream while watching Team GB instead of doing a few stretches.  Discipline, endurance, long-term vision and planning are words I could do with writing on a post-it note and putting on my mirror.  

The dress

One of my motivations for exercise was fitting into a bridesmaid dress for a hot summer wedding.  There would be no layers to hide under, I was going to be exposed in a navy blue summer dress with a fitted bodice and loose from waist to the knees.  Such a beautiful dress deserved a beautiful body and with the wedding date set for 13 weeks after the birth it seemed reasonable to set getting into this dress as a first challenge to be more fab than flab.  


I did it!  Unfortunately, with the busyness of being a bridesmaid, wife to a best man, and mother to two flower girls I didn't manage to get a photo, so here is one I pinched from someone else and a family photo from a few days after the wedding.