15 Months

 

In approximately 15 months, I'll turn 50. I won't go on and on about how I feel about turning 50. Turning 40 bothered me a lot and I imagine 50 will be even more upsetting. But that's not what this blog is about. What this blog is about is finally finishing a journey I started while I was in my 20s--the journey to be a fit person.

Up until I graduated from high school, I was what you would call a couch potato. Free time was spent reading, and even as a kid I was reading when other kids were playing outdoors. I was always chubby  and I started worrying about my weight while I was still in middle school.

Shortly after college I discovered the great outdoors and began to crave outside time. In 1999, when I was 26, I bought my first mountain bike and began a relationship with a sport I would come to love.

Over the years, my weight has fluctuated and so has my level of fitness. I didn't just ride. I did some racing too. And although biking was always a mainstay, I added running to my repertoire for several years. I completed six marathons and five Dopey Challenges (a four-day race at Disney World consisting of a 5k, 10k, half-marathon and full marathon), as well as numerous other races. Saying all of that makes it sound like I had to have been in shape at some point. But that would be a huge oversimplification of my relationship with my weight, health and fitness.

I don't think I'm bashing myself or not giving myself credit for my accomplishments if I admit that in most of those races I just finished, sometimes barely in time to avoid getting pulled off the course for exceeding the time limit. I can count on one hand the number of times I felt like I had adequate training for an event and went into it determined to excel and not just struggling to finish. 

Is what I've done something to be proud of? Certainly. Is it better to be active than to sit on the couch all the time? Absolutely. But is it as satisfying as it could be? Definitely not.

So, what does all of this have to do with turning 50? The older I get, the more convinced I become that I want to spend the rest of my years being active. I want to do it in good health, at a healthy weight and at a sustained level of fitness. That fitness is the key to being able to enjoy the outdoor activities I want to, when I want to, without struggling through them.

The next 15 months will be committed to getting myself to that spot I have been trying to reach for a lifetime and figuring out how to keep myself there. At the end of that time, I intend to begin my fit life by participating in an event that has been on my bucket list for several years. And when I line up at that starting line, this time I'll be prepared.