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What’s so Great About Exercise

Today I had the distinct pleasure of taking my fifth group to the Seattle Marathon and running with them, receiving texts as they finished, reading updates on Facebook and Dailymile, and watching them as they crossed the finish line. It made me think about how far we’ve come as a group, and how far we’ve come as people. It also made me reflect on a question asked by a new runner on Saturday, “When you first started running, did you hate it sometimes?”

I know that when people first start working out, they often have a very hard time getting "what's so great" about it. It isn't necessarily fun. Usually it hurts, and we live in a society where we try to keep from ever feeling pain. It takes up time that could otherwise be used pursuing exciting things like reruns of The Match Game and the latest reality show. 

When I first started working out I was having an instant message conversation with a stellar young man who was one of my students. I had to get going to do my exercises I had prescribed to myself. I said, "I've got to get going because I have to work out. UGH!"

To which he replied, "Ugh? You don't like working out?"

"No, I hate it. Talk to you tomorrow!" (We were chatting on IM about a homework assignment.)

"Really? Wow! To me a day without exercise is like a day without sunshine!" (or something like that)

"Well, J, I've always knew you were a little cracked, but I admire your attitude. I wish I had that attitude. TTYL!"

I signed off I went and did my Pilates DVD, which I completely hated because it wasn't very active, it hurt, it was boring, and it hurt. Did I mention it hurt? But those words kept echoing in my head, "I wish I had that attitude...I wish I had that attitude...I wish I had that attitude..."

I thought about that all the next day. After all, what is attitude? It is how we "feel" about something. But what is a feeling? Is it something that 'just happens' or is it something we can control? I had taken this marriage seminar one time called "Love is a decision" and the crux of that statement was, "We don't always love everything about the person we have married at every moment, so it is in those 'unlovely' moments that we must decide to love that person anyhow; even if you've picked up his crusty socks off the floor for the 14th time this week. Love is a decision."

I’d always known love as a feeling. But they were right; love is also a decision. So if an attitude is a feeling, could not an attitude ALSO be a decision?

And right then and there I chose to adopt that attitude of J's (who has now graduated from college in an effort to make me feel really old). It started with self-talk. "I have to go work out" was immediately re-worded to "I GET to go work out." I also found an exercise I liked. NOW I like Pilates because I have better endurance (although it still hurts), but at the time it was just not the right exercise for me. I joined a local women’s only gym. I stopped "fitting in" exercise around my day and started planning it; every day after work I'd go straight to the gym and work out.

So fast forward to almost nine years later and I love exercise.  You know why I love it? Because exercise opens up opportunities; I started running in 2004 and through that have met some fantastic people. I started triathloning, and through that have met even MORE fantastic people. I can jump in the water and swim across the lake...twice and feel GREAT afterwards. I can bike five cities over and feel like I've accomplished something and had FUN doing it. I am strong! And I get to share my love of fitness with people like YOU, and help foster that love!

Exercise also allows me to be active just for the sake of being active. My husband and I were talking about this yesterday. Before we adopted this active lifestyle we used to see a lot of things. We saw plays, movies, concerts, and watched a lot of TV. We watched other people doing things, but we didn't do a lot of things ourselves. We still see plays, movies, and concerts and watch TV, but we also DO a lot of things. We bike, we paddle, we run, we hike. We just have allowed fitness to open a whole new world to us. Summer days pre-weight loss would be waking up late, watching TV for a few hours, going to see a movie or to the mall. Now it's getting up early, going for a run, biking to a town 25 miles away for lunch, or kayaking on the slough. We still might see a movie, but more likely we've biked or run to the movie rather than driven. It just plain rocks!

And don’t get me started about travel! I’ve run marathons in 9 states and 2 countries. I’ve experienced, often with friends old and new, cities like San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Salt Lake in ways I could NEVER experience them from a car! I can’t WAIT to see where my fitness takes me next.

So give fitness a chance and see where it can take you!