Encouraging better health, obtaining fitness goals, living a better life, and documenting my adventures is what this site is all about. My hope is for you to become proactive with your health and fitness, encouraged to take on new physical challenges, motivated to realize your true potential, and have fun doing it! I want you to lose your weak, find your STRONG.
My story of losing my weak.
I am one of three children, one of which that did not receive the unbelievable athletic ability as my siblings. They were rock-star athletes, earning lots of praise and recognition. Then there was me... a hard worker, but definitely lacked in coordination and physical ability. One thing I could do decently was run. I ran track and cross-country in high school, performing mediocre. Since I wasn't a rock-star, even after working hard, I felt I wasn't good at any sport and gave up. Yep, I was a quitter. That quitter mentality stuck with me through my late teens and early twenties. Quit, quit, quit... what a loser. Then I decided to get my life on track, go away to college and make something of myself. I picked up running again and found a peace within myself. Running taught me to push through the hard, not to quit. When my lungs were burning and my legs were wobbly, I would go a little further. My life was shaping up the same way.
College, marriage, and babies... At this point I was a stay-at-home mom and my body was morphing into something different. After my first child, I had gained weight and felt "chubby". I hated this feeling and began to run again, finishing my first half-marathon. I vowed never to be in that kind of physical dilapidation again. Thus began my active life-style. I began playing tennis and since I lacked coordination, I figured I could get in really great physical condition and maybe win some matches based on fitness. Plyometrics, pushups, running, strength training were getting me fit and strong. Feeling strong and actually seeing muscles in my former weak arms was awesome, I loved the way I felt. "Since I am getting in good physical condition, I might as well enter a triathlon," I thought. I had always wanted to try it and thought it would be pretty cool if I added that to my resume. My kids were ages 5,3, and 1 when I made this decision, the decision that would change my life.
If I was going, I was going big. Not a sprint triathlon, but the half-IronMan. Nine months of training, researching, and nutrition had transformed me physically and mentally. Finally May 2009 race day came, I gave it my all. I came to the finish line a different person. No longer the spectator sister, but the rock-star athlete. No longer that quitter, but a challenger. No longer weak, but strong.
The race was an end result of a process and journey I had taken and fell in love with. It's what changed me, changed my perception of self, and made me a better person. I choose to continue on a journey that brings new challenges and discoveries in my life. Wither it is running ultra races that I never dreamed of completing or shaving off minutes at local races, I'm going to keep pushing forward.
I hope you are encouraged from my sit-at-home-"chubby"-mom-to-athlete story. Anyone can accomplish personal greatness. Improving your own health and fitness will give you the physical ability to try new adventures that lead to your own self discoveries. Lose your weak, find your STRONG!
Peace!
" Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:23-25
