This is the first entry in my new fitness blog! For me fitness has been a steady lifelong experience, like a long walk. Sometimes the walk was more like a jog, a run, or even a sprint. Other times it was a stroll, a meander, or a skip. And yet other times it was a dance, a twirl, or even a splash. But it seems that shortly after birth I began moving, and I've had a love for it ever since. My body simply works best when I use it!
I remember as a child, my mom could see the energy building up inside me, and would send me outside to do laps around the house. Finally, she put me in gymnastics and I discovered my first sport. I loved gymnastics... the tumbling, the bars, even the balance beam (which was a little scary). And boy did it make me strong! I could do more chin ups then the boys at school and even beat a few of them at arm wrestling! After six years of being a gymnast, I decided I wanted to totally switch gears to soccer (that's what all my friends were doing). So I traded in my leotard for shin guards. I liked soccer, but I wasn't very good at it. I kept at it, though, playing on my high school team as well as on a travel team. One day I was in regular ol' gym class and I was talking to my coach about soccer and how I didn't love it, and after listening to me he said, "Sounds like you just love running...you should go out for the Cross-Country team." Brilliant idea! I don't know why I never thought of it myself. So that's exactly what I did and I found a new sport to love. I ran Cross-Country and Track the rest of my high school career and even earned a scholarship to run at a college, but turned it down so that I could stay at home and go to Florida State.
After high school, I was introduced to Step Aerobics, and for nearly a whole year I didn't run at all, but did Step like crazy. Then one day I decided that I wanted to go out and run again. In my mind I could easily run five miles without a thought, and cardiovascularly I could too (because of all the Step Aerobics). But running and step are two very different exercises, as I would soon find out, and quickly I ended up with an injury (young and stupid, I know). Ever since then my approach to running has had to be ever so cautious...it takes very little to flare up that old injury, even to this day.
But I continued to run (with care), and as an adult began learning new sports such as biking, mountain biking, snowboarding, snow-shoeing, swimming, and strength training. I even completed a triathlon! However, mostly during the past five years my consistent form of exercise has been walking. After my two sons were born life changed tremendously. My body changed as well. I slowed down a lot. I rarely missed my morning stroll, it kept me sane...kept me balanced. But most days that was all I did. And I am thankful for that time. Time to slow down, be with my kids while they were little. Enjoy life at a slower pace. Thankful, yes...but inside me that athlete was calling....was waiting ever so patiently....and one day it came forth screaming! But life was different now. Could I ever be the athlete I once was? Plus, I was getting older...starting to feel some of those aches and pains. Could I satisfy the me within in my present life? Thankfully, the answer was yes, I could...and it was much easier than I had ever imagined.
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