Before I begin rambling about five of my favorite fitness accessories, I owe an enormous thank you for such a kind, generous response to my last post about miscarriage. Thank you, thank you for all of your comments! And a very special thank you to Grace for sharing it with her millions of readers.

Five Favorites – my first edition! Fitness! Go to one of my favorite blogs MoxieWife.com for more

But first, another tangent:

The days of my dating life were filled with them: fast runs with my boyfriend by my side. It was quality time with him for me, a loquacious girlfriend quieted by an inability to exert herself physically and pull together coherent sentences for him, better butts for both of us. Once married, it took approximately 5 million times of his diverting against my repeated asking, “want to go for a quick run together?” before I figured it out. He hates running. He just liked me. It was all a courting strategy.

Five years, each of them my favorite, later, we have finally figured out a work out we both like to do together. Crossfit! We started last night. I’ll keep you posted. So maybe I’m jumping the fitness gun since we’ve only officially done it once, but it was super fun and without any transition at all, I’ll jump into my five favorite fitness accessories.

1. Lululemon’s Run Inspire Crop

I know, I know, they cost $88 and are made of spandex, BUTT (pun intended) if you’ve ever seen yours in these, regular spandex will be difficult to get back into. I estimate somewhere around 400 workouts being magically placed into your upper thigh, gluteus maximus area in one pair of pants. Additionally, they wash better than any pair of pants I’ve ever owned, and I wash my stuff after every single work out. I’ve owned mine for almost three years. I’ve washed them approximately 5 billion times. They still look brand new. My bum has grown a few sizes in them during pregnancy, and no one but the mirror told me that they noticed. I’ve only thrown on a pair of boots and a long sweater pretending they weren’t work out pants a handful of times making myself feel like a fashion genius while actually fooling zero fashion aware people. Splurge!

2. Brooks Ghost

I’ve tried many a shoes and these are my new favorites. They are super flexible and cushiony without the feeling of wearing a huge shoe. They support my mother of three, three and under, damaged joints and make them feel not as damaged. Aesthetically pleasing? Not as much as those trendy Nike’s, but I simply cannot just do anything when my feet hurt. Expensive? Absolutely, but I think that’s the case with all running shoes. They don’t actually make you disappear no matter how much you ask them when picking up scrambled eggs off the floor for the 7th time that morning, even if the name suggests it.

3. Stylish Pullover – Target Special

Any time I think of the word pullover, I also think of my favorite, “no its a cardigan but thanks for noticing!” scene in Dumb and Dumber.

As a busy mom, and a lazy dresser, a quick smell resistant sweater is key to transitioning from a work out into the rest of the day when there isn’t time for a shower, or you just don’t feel like taking one. I found my favorite one for target for $2.97 one glorious morning on super sale, partially making up for the $88 spandex. TJ Maxx has great ones, too.

4. Sport Beans

If I ever had to climb a bean stock, I’m pretty sure these beans could get me to do it. As a small girl, sometimes I need some extra energy to get me through a long run, especially when I’m nursing. They help me recover faster, and they don’t make me throw up like those terrible gel meals or Gatorade. And! If your toddler hates pedialyte, like mine, they have electrolytes and they think its candy, mostly because it sort of is candy. FYI: The ones with caffeine are disgusting.

5. Burpees with kids

Monetarily free, comedic relief for days. Usually we race each other and Josie wins. Rita rolls around, James, jumps and falls. It’s a barrel of laughs and sweat, and a full body work out complete.

Happy Toning!