During middle school and high school I did not have to worry about staying in shape or worry about eating too much or junk food. Sure, I have always been a little exercise and nutrition conscious but it was never really necessary. College became a different story. Your metabolism slows down as you age so come college, I was more aware of my exercise and eating habits.
I ran track four years at Luther. My freshman year I had not fully committed to being on the team but I did a lot of running on my own during the fall because the weather is perfect for running all the time. As part of a college PE class we had to run 3 miles on the track and I was actually pretty good at it. I had convinced myself that I did not need to compete to stay in shape. Eventually I ran past the head coach's house enough on my routes that he sent me an email pointing out that I was putting in a lot of time running and joining the track team would be a good idea. Well, I joined and I don't regret it. It was a great support system and we were all doing something we enjoyed, that happened to be exercise as well. Even if you aren't part of a sports team in college, most have state of the art fitness centers where there are weights, machines, classes, and pools; you are bound to find something you enjoy. Exercise is easy in college and can be a great way to procrastinate homework and de-stress.
However, that pre-planned, easy access, support system has proved challenging after college. In college it was easy to commit a few hours of my day to track because the people were great and it was a simple way to get all my exercise needs met. (Sidenote: felt pretty good about eating whatever I wanted, within reason of course, because my fitness levels were so high.) Since college though I haven't run much. I am at peace with that. I think I've gone running 5 times since my last meet in May. The first time I ran, I tried to take my puppy but she didn't quite understand jogging so we either sprinted or walked for 20 minutes. The second time I went running it was 95ºF outside and 100% humidity. I was at the mall a few minutes drive from my apartment and locked my keys in my car. I walked home to get the spare set and ran back to the mall. It was noon–hottest part of the day and 15 minutes of torture. I decided not to run again for awhile. My boyfriend and I tried running together a few times but we were neither one really interested in it. Part of me feels at a loss because I am not working toward a goal of a time in a competition. At the same time, adulthood does not leave a lot of solo exercise time.
My puppy has exceptionally high exercise needs. (Life tip: German shorthair pointers are not great apartment dogs. Cute as a button but they need a lot of exercise and ability to run. She is making due and we visit a big dog park a couple days a week so she gets plenty of exercise.) I leave for work around 7am and get home by 6pm. By the time my dog and I get a sufficient walk in for the evening it is 7pm. I try and make a rushed dinner and soon enough it is 8pm and I'm exhausted with a dog ready to take another loop around the block. We play fetch (read: she runs after toys I throw and then I have to force her mouth open to get the toy back, but we're working on it) and she loves tug-of-war. Then we snuggle in bed and go to sleep around 10pm. As the days get shorter it is becoming even more difficult to get enough exercise during daylight hours. I am not entirely sure what we will do come November and December.
If the exercise does not help my dog, I simply don't have time to do it. There are a lot of exercise sales and programs on social media but not everyone has time for that. From a practical standpoint I don't care about "being tone and tight." I don't know how many times in my last track season someone asked what exercise I was going to take up when I was done sprinting. I always said I planned to get a dog and we were going to take long walks. I'm doing exactly what I said and pretty much living the dream: I don't feel obligated to run right now and Little P gets to go on explorations and get exercise at the same time. It's a win-win. I already get up at 5:30am to get myself ready and get my dog fed, snuggled, and walked around the block before I leave for work. I can't afford to get up much earlier. I already spend close to an hour a day in total exercising my dog. If I added even another 30 minutes of exercise a day I would feel more exhausted than I already do. I would also be eating dinner probably close to 8pm. More exercise really doesn't fit into my day. And I can't sacrifice my dog's exercise needs for my own. I can deal with being out of shape but my dog will destroy things like couches and carpet if she doesn't get enough activity.
Exercise is never easy and it only becomes more difficult after college. For those out there that have managed to find a program that works for them and their schedules, congrats! If you haven't run since your last college meet, that's okay too. From a health standpoint I encourage you to get some exercise each day because it's good for you. At the same time, if you simply can't make it work don't let it stress you out. The time will come when life slows down and you can figure things out. It all takes time.
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