Finding Time to Exercise With Little Kids

So, if you've seen me around the boards before, you know I have kids. Five of them. I love them dearly, but sometimes their needs can make logistics difficult.

Up until a few weeks ago, my main exercise was bodyweight YouTube videos. I do them first thing in the morning (I'm an early riser by nature), and if one or two of the kids wander down and want to "do them too" or just watch, I deal. But now that the weather is warming up, and I've lost a little weight and am feeling better, I've been itching to run again. I love being outdoors, especially early in the morning when everything is quiet. If I go early enough, I can leave and get back before anybody else is up, which was my original goal. However, the baby (nine months) seems to have developed a sixth sense about me leaving the house, and will wake up and be quite put out that I'm not around. My husband is definitely NOT a morning person, and rather resents having to get up much earlier than he'd like. Part of me wants to tell him "tough cookies," but I know how I would feel if he was also making me deal with, say, bedtime all by myself several times per week while he went out and did something.

So I'm trying to figure out if and when I can plan my runs, and trying not to let perfection (in my head, going for a run in the morning while everyone else is asleep and not having to contend with many other people or traffic) be the enemy of the good (actually getting time to get out there in a way that doesn't throw my family into chaos).

My husband goes to work during the day. I homeschool the kids, though the oldest three will be going to school in the fall. My oldest is mature enough to be home alone, but not quite mature enough to be responsible for his siblings while I'm gone. Taking them with me feels like a nightmare. I do walk with them most days, which will continue when they go to school. I suppose I could either hold off until my baby is sleeping better again in the early mornings, or get a gym membership and use the childcare during the day a couple times per week (I'm loathe to spend money on that, especially when I'd much prefer to run outside anyway). Other possibilities include a mother's helper/babysitter, or possibly swapping childcare with another stay at home parent during daytime hours, or running in the evening - meaning working around dinner and bedtime, and sunset. I'm running at present right around dawn, and by summer it will be mostly light at that time. I don't fancy running in the dark, though where we live is reasonably safe. Loose dogs probably pose more of a risk than people, though that's not a concern unique to nighttime.

Anyway, I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels here. I can reasonably accept that I'm going to have to adapt some as I go. I'd love to hear from other parents who have had to figure this out. And I know all my babies won't be little forever. But I do get tired sometimes of the idea that I just need to "wait them out."