Yes every year I do this challenge and yes every year we have surprise winners. This year however, instead of everyone having the same height, as far as boxes are concerned, I raised or lowered the height according to the person’s ability. This year Sarah won at 33:26 minutes followed closely behind by Jackie at 33:20 minutes. Everyone how ever did well and now has new bench marks to pursue.
Then we all talked about something that I feel is real important, their heritage. At first when I had my initial conversation with them everyone of them told me that they just wanted live to see their grandchildren, with the exception of Sarah who told me something much different. Everyone of them are in pursue of a better more active life. Everyone of them wants to get out of their imprisonment and feel free to do everything and anything. The question here is how can the accomplish that and how long it will take.
Well the answer to both questions is…a lifetime. The pursuit of a quality fitness life is a process that takes forever but during the journey many mild markers are achieved and dreams are made. Here is the best part though, our next generation, our kids, benefit more than we do. We are becoming the fattest nation in the world and this trend has got to stop. But how can it stop if we don’t give our kids the ability to know that they can win this battle of obesity. Our kids are a mirror image of ourselves and who we are…someday they WILL be.
So with that mentioned to them I began the process of individually talking to each one of them and allowing them to dream and picture themselves finally getting out of their prison and beginning a trend that will last for generations. There was not a dry eye in the place but an excitement that transcended even the most down-trotted person.
There was one other thing I did on Saturday. Jackie has been a member of Parkers Place for a few years now and she has been fighting weight issues and physical injury for years now. Besides a nagging leg injury that has been with her forever she also has a shoulder injury that really needs looking into. Most people would have quit and given up and by rights she could do that and many would consider her excuses valid. But she doesn’t see that. All she sees is just obstacles that need over coming and she has overcome them in a big way.
The other day she calls me and tells me that she was trying on some cloths the other day and she found the first pair of jeans she wore to see my a year ago. She said that they were a size 21 and now she wears a size 9. My response to her was, “So what does this mean?” I’m sorry, I’m a guy. She hangs up the phone and about 10 minutes later she comes walking in with these jeans and shows me. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! WOW! She has entered herself into many running challenges and has reduced her mile time from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Best yet though, two of her friends have followed her for such a long time during this journey that they too have decided to join and joined the Weight Loss Challenge and lost almost 30 pounds in less than 6 weeks.
Because of her efforts and how she has shown just not me but here friends how dedicated she is to her fitness, I have put her name on my FITNESS board for everyone to see. This board was designed for those who have really struggled and overcome many obstacles and now have achieve levels of fitness that surpass anything they ever thought they were going to achieve.
How about you? Are you making a difference in your children’s lives? Can they say that you have shown them that your health is the most important thing to you? Do you show it to them or do you just talk a good game? Remember, who you are…one day your kids will be.
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