Find Your Reason...

I just finished reading an article in Runner's World titled "My Sister, the Runner?".  As the title implies, her older brother is somewhat puzzled when his sister announced that she was going to enter a running race.  He responded to her by saying, "I thought you hated organized events.  I thought you hated organized anything.  And I thought you had insisted , for many years, that yoga and African dance gave you all the exercise you needed.  Why run now?"

Her reply:

To overcome fear of hard things.
To beat my inner "I am a loser" demons.
To feel powerful in a new way as my beauty fades.
To prove to my ex-husband that I am not a fat, lazy slob.
To connect to my obsessive, power-hungry son.
To give the big F you to all the Durango crazed athletes... I would do it without spending five godzillion dollars on running s--t.
To connect with something bigger than myself.
To conquer middle-aged oblivion.
To set a good example for my 12-year-old daughter.

Wow! Some of those reasons lead me to believe she is a rather unsettled person, but they are bold and strong and make some of my reasons for running seem kind of mundane or weak. But they have kept me running for 25 years.  And that is the key, your reasons have to be yours.  And those reasons will change throughout the years.  I started running to lose weight.  I have run to cope with difficult times as when my mother twice battled cancer.  I ran to get in shape to get a job as a firefighter.  I have run to set personal bests and win races.  I keep running because heart disease runs in my family.  I run because my butt starts to get even bigger if I don't run.  I run with my best friend for fun and stress relief.  Life changes, and our reasons for staying committed to our fitness routine change with it.

So why do you keep fitness a priority in your life?  We have heard many different answers from our Warriors, including, "My kids aren't going to slow down for me so I have to keep up".  "My blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels are the best they have ever been and I want to keep them there".  "I have a stressful job and this is my outlet".

As January 1st and all those well intentioned  New Years Resolutions start to fade into the past, there has to be some lasting, intrinsic, reason to maintain your fitness program.  It has to be strong enough for you to believe the benefits and results are worth the daily effort and lifestyle changes.  As long as your reasons keep you motivated it doesn't matter if they may seem silly, insignificant, strange, or even outright vain to others, as long as they keep you moving!