My Pathetic Post about Fitness

I've never been athletic.  Or coordinated.  Ask my college roommates.  They had some kind of bet/drinking game based on how many times I would trip or walk into doorways in our apartment.  In my defense, they purposely left shoes lying around to trip me up.

In grade school, I was the one who got straight A's, but always came in last in EVERY event on Field Day.  Oh, how I loathed Field Day.

I tried a few sports, but Missouri allergens plus undiagnosed exercise-induced asthma put an end to that nonsense.  Volleyball was a good fit for me because a:  it's indoors/air-conditioned and b:  there is no distance running, unlike soccer which brought me to tears.  But starting a new sport in eighth grade is rough and thus I only played volleyball one year.

So in high school, I walked the mile, was fairly good at sit-ups, and was in all the plays.  No sports. 
Heck, no.

In college, I walked a few miles in Irving and Las Colinas with girlfriends while listening to Squeeze and Supertramp, but nothing serious.

I've gone through periods of dedicated walking for fitness, usually only during pregnancy.  Maybe that's why all of my children are all gifted with athleticism.   Lord knows, that doesn't come from me. 

I took walking to a new level last October.  I challenged myself to walk EVERY day in October.  It helped that we had gorgeous weather that month and that my friends had bought Baby J and myself this fabulous stroller.

These are some of the things I discovered last October: 

• Walking makes me a nicer person.  
• Walking helps me sleep better.  
• I have loads of friends who are more than happy to accompany me, Mickey-dog, and Baby J on a walk.
• Walking with the Chef is a super cheap date.  And if we time it right, we can stop by his sister's house, or his mother's house and mooch a beer, or two, and maybe a ride home.
• Walking helps me combat Seasonal Affective Disorder.
• I can multi-task by doing this thing called "Prayer Walk."

This sounds lame, but I guess you could say I felt “called” to exercise in order to better serve God and my family.

This quote from Jennifer Fulwiler resonates with me.  She also wrote something about making physical fitness a priority like daily prayer is a priority, but for the life of me, I can't find that post anywhere.

Now, I've upped the ante even more and begun a class called "boot camp."  In my case, it could be "booty camp."  I can't say I love it, yet, but I'm going to give it a few months.  I'm trying to keep in mind that,

 "...when you do something because you think it is going to bring you peace and joy in and of itself, the whole thing is doomed to collapse. But if it’s done out of service to God, with the final aim of deeper union with him, your efforts will bear more fruit than you could have imagined."

In the meantime, I'll keep up with the walking and maybe even join Cari for her virtual 5K.