Getting a Life: "From Couch to Competition"

My Super Motivator!

"Go Dad!" 

My Other Super
Motivator!

Yikes!

Chapter
Two

The first part of the journey to fitness is over and now chapter two begins.  I've completed two sprint triathlons and it has been absolutely wonderful to get to this point. Work - but wonderful. Working with Beginnertriathlete.Com has been great. There are sooo many people who have done their first triathlon this year and most of them getting hooked on the sport. Me?? "I love this stuff! (Most of the time:)

It is mid-season for 2004 and I've taken a bit of a break from training (a few swims, and leisurely bike rides) and the week off a regular, more intense program has been good. Got back to a 3.1 mile run this morning without walking breaks. Time to tune up again. The last two triathlons for the season will be the last weekend in August and first weekend in Sept. A buddy at the university and I will do at least one and maybe two days of the RAGBRAI the end of July. Then I will do an official's clinic and intern at the Wisconsin Ironman. Officiating seems like a good way to give something back to the sport and maybe help build up the Midwest Region of USAT.

It is difficult to imagine life without the people I love and without this sport that keeps me engaged and feeling better than I have since I was about 21. Chapter One was all about getting to a place I never dreamed I would be. I think that's a big part of what energizes the people who are the community we call Beginnertriathlete. It's all about the dreams we have of getting and staying fit. The stories at BT are a huge repository of inspiration. Chapter two is the next step in my commitment to maintain this lifestyle and find new adventures that bring real joy to the quality of life. It isn't just about being fit - it's about really, really enjoying creation. There's a big spiritual angle to all this.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the journey. It is now just under a year and a half since I went to my doctor with chest pains, shortness of breath, and finding myself totally winded after walking from the parking lot to my office. Time for some observations and reflections.

A lot of people who have known me for a while say things like, "You are really disciplined, I wish I could be like that." The fact is, I am not so disciplined. The last week slacking off the training, and eating out of bounds for my nutrition program is a scary thing for me. I know I could go back to the old ways easily. But...

I am looking at this bookmark my daughter gave to me. It says, "Thanks Dad for always being my guiding light." I am an older dad - and an older husband. I turned 65 last December and want to keep on playing this "guiding light" role. I also want to stay here for my lovely, younger wife. That would not be possible if I let the "old" John take over again. So I'm not all that disciplined - just afraid not to be fit. (To say nothing of over hearing my daughter comment to a friend that I was way stronger and faster than her friend's dads - most of them thirty and forty somethings who by and large are seriously out of shape.)

I want to share this good news... fitness is not just for the few - it is the way we were designed to live. I know it is hard to get going. The old thing about a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest. I was at rest for a long time and I hear lots of folks quite a bit younger than me say they are "too old" to change now. Not true! Take a step - then another and another. The time it takes to train and get fit is time we gain back in quality of life and dare I say - length of life.

Chapter Two is about planning for another season, for keeping the routines of life that have made a new life possible and about balancing family, work, and sport.

I guess I would say it is true that triathletes are a bit nuts - but hey - back to that old remark. "It's a wonderful crazy!"  Sometime, volunteer to work a triathlon. You will discover a great community of people who are dedicated to good living!