I have a new friend. Her name is Schwinny. She is an upright exercise bike that now calls my home office her home. The funny thing is that my friends would say that I am not an exercise bike kind of person. I have always HATED spin classes. I couldn't stand how painful the seat was. I would add towels so I could have more comfort, but it only lasted a minute or two. I would stare at the clock in class and count down the minutes. When I say HATE…I really mean hate! I bought a cruiser bike last year to help my sister with her marathon training. But that was all to help her, other than our adventures in long running, it has stayed in the garage.

So, what changed? What would make this self-proclaimed bike hater purchase an exercise bike and put it in the room that she spends the majority of her time? Well, to be honest, being tired of the pandemic is what happened. It's almost exactly one year since we all started the two week pause to flatten the curve. I've been working from my home office for that entire time. My commute to my desk is 10 steps. My break to go to the bathroom is 10 steps. I just don’t move throughout the day. I bought a standing desk, but standing doesn’t actually mean I'm moving my body. The realization that we are at the year mark really hit hard for me. I don't know about you, but I'm just tired of this. I'm tired of being in this "new normal". I'm tired of my lifestyle being one where I am only active on occasion. I'm tried of feeling like I have truly become sedentary. I bought a treadmill (which will be here this weekend!) but it would be too noisy for an upstairs office. So, I started searching for other options to start moving throughout my work day. Then, while watching facebook videos, my treadmill company played an ad where a woman finishes a work conference and stands up to head over to her bike and she starts riding. I'm assuming that because I just bought the treadmill the ad kept showing up in the feed. And it worked. Why couldn’t I get a bike and update the seat so it works for me? I have room in my office and would have the perfect spot. I could ride during conference calls that I'm not leading. I could stretch my legs and just get them moving more. The next thing I knew, I placed the order!

I've had the bike for over a week and I've gotten on it every day. I'm still not loving riding, but I am loving how I feel because I'm moving more. And that is enough to keep me coming back.