Workout Room (Not Fancy, but Functional)

We live in Wisconsin. Enough said. You are lucky if you get six months out of the year to run outside. We have a membership to our local YMCA (mostly for Jason to swim and for the kids' swim lessons), but it is hard to get there with the kids and Paige is now too old for the free daycare services that they offer.

We have had our treadmill since 2000 or 2001. I only used it for walking until 2005, when we both started running. I still can't believe it's still running after all of the running we've logged on that thing over the long winter months.

Our house is a tri-level and we have a fourth level that is unfinished with our utilities and storge. This is where we have kept our treadmill since we moved in and it has developed into a handy home gym. It's not pretty, but it works. It's easy to head down there with the kids or to workout after the kids go to bed.

I'd love to eventually have the basement finished off, or at least drywalled. I did have someone come out last Winter (after I was getting sick of the Wisconsin winter). But, he quoted me $7,000 - $13,000 to do it. So, we're making do with what we have and are trying to take advantage of the convenience factor.

Our treadmill is next to the wall (and sadly, the insulation!). I have a small tv that we (and the kids) watch while we workout. Jason also has a trainer, which he brings his bike inside for training purposes. We're also always running an old box fan that helps keep us cool down there and it helps circulate the air a little. We have foam flooring, which we purchased at Walmart. The sections piece together like a puzzle. We also have some weights that Jason uses (and I need to use!).

I also keep a playpen for Jackson, in which I change up the toy selection!! Jackson really does like it down there and begs to workout with me. Paige did not have the same attitude about it when she was little!

This shelving unit is my favorite area. It includes some memorabilia and a lot of photos of us racing and with the kids at our events. I need to put some updated photos on display, but that will be a project for this Winter. I love reminiscing while I workout and glance over at these memorable moments. I also keep a basket of fun, brightly colored towels for toweling off after a workout.

An Ironman Wisconsin Print I picked up at Madison's Art Fair on the Square, a couple of trophies we won at a local 5K a few years back and a photo of Jason and Paige hugging after he crossed the finish line at his first triathlon (so memorable!).

This section includes some of our bigger accomplishments ... our first marathon memorabilia. Including Mickey Mouse in his running gear. I'm hoping that they have a Minnie Mouse version at the Disney Princess Half Marathon in March! This area now also includes all of Jason's Ironman collectibles from last month.

This is our bulletin board of glory and triumph. Jason's side is the left and mine is the right. I'm tempted to expand into a bulletin board for each of our individual accomplishments. We each keep our bib numbers for one full calendar year on a safety pin. So each grouping represents one calendar year. We each race about ten times a year. Jason also prints off a sticker with the race name, date, finish time and pace and places that information on the back of each racing bib. I've also included all of our hardware (medals) and other things we've collected along the way.


Look at all of those running bibs!! I don't even want to think about how many $1,000 we've spenty on race entry fees!!

The framed quote can be purchased on our Cafe Press website:
http://www.cafepress.com/enduranceshop

The other cute sign "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step" was purchased at Target. I love it.

That's it. Not fancy, but functional. It works. In fact, I better head down there with the little guy right now!!