"Life is either a great adventure, or nothing"
-Helen Keller
For someone who has never considered herself athletic, working out can be a challenge. It's a challenge to be motivated, a challenge to be interested, and an enormous challenge to find time. Endorphins are great, but so is sleeping, getting acceptable grades, and fun with friends.
At the beginning of this, my fourth year of college, though, I decided that it is time to grow up and take responsibility for more parts of my life, especially my health. Now that I'm buying groceries and preparing food for myself, I can control my nutrition more. A more balanced diet, though, is only half the battle. I knew I need to combine that with physical activity, but what to do? Exercise programs that emphasize looking slimmer, more toned, or otherwise more attractive wouldn't do it. Those aren't my goals. Plus, that's kind of boring. I don't want to just be skinnier, stronger, or less flabby; I want to be able to do things, see amazing places, and experience new opportunities that may require me to be physically able.
My goals include:
-To honor God with my body. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
-Worship God in all areas of my life.
-To be healthy.
-To be fit. (I don't want to be out of breath at the top of one flight of stars.)
-To be physically capable of doing the things I love to do, and those I'd like to try. I don't want self-imposed physical limitations keep me from trying new things or playing outside.
How will I know that I've achieved my goals?
In order for the evaluation to reflect my third goal it should include some kind of final activity that would involve doing something incredibly fun outside that required a level of fitness and athleticism that I do not currently claim. It had to be obtainable (let's be real, a marathon is still WAY out of the question), but it also had to be something that would take consistent work over a considerable period of time. That's when I remembered a feat accomplished by a former roommate of mine: The Tough Mudder.
So I got some friends on board and it looks like this thing is a go. None of us can really stand to do the same thing all the time so for a while we'll just experiment with jogging, stairs, T25, bouldering, and whatever else we can think of. So far it's been hilarious and wonderful. They will join me in sharing our adventures in future posts.
This blog will be the record of our journey together toward the May event north of Chicago. May it be an encouragement to any of our readers and a great reminder of God's goodness as he gives us strength to pursue this goal.
Peace and blessings,
K
