Beginner Basics: Diary of a Fitness Wannabe

After the long holiday break I was looking forward to sleeping in a little bit on the second Saturday in January. But of course around seven o'clock in the morning, as per usual, darling five-year-old Iain comes bounding into the room. "Mommy! It's the fun run today! It's the fun run today!" It didn't take long to figure out what he was talking about. His school had created an elaborate event geared towards getting the kids together and having fun running around the track. From what I could tell there would be games and prizes including a brand-new bike that you could win, and he was highly enthusiastic. "Mom we HAVE to go!" Well that was it, the only thing I was getting out of was bed. I got him organized, put some of my new gym clothes on that I got for Christmas, drove through Starbucks and made it to the school on time.

There were at least 50 to 75 parents and kids there all eagerly awaiting instructions on what to do and how to win the coveted bike! The drill was simple: run around the track and get a dot for every lap you do. You get a raffle ticket for every dot. And at the end of the morning the big raffle would occur.

So my sweet son took off running right away - he was so eager and excited. "Bye Mom!" And off he went. After some very light stretching, I decided to join the fray. I jumped in with a spring in my step. I could do this. I'm training for the Capital 10K after all. This little elementary school fun run aint no thing! Well after about 15 minutes I certainly got my wake-up call. The effects of my long exercise-free vacation over the course of the holidays suddenly became painfully clear. I was huffing, puffing, and only just around to getting my first dot when my son sprinted past, followed by many other much younger people and their parents. And that's when I got really mad. Mad at the nubile young parents in their cool jogging gear who could glide and stride so gracefully past me while conducting a three-way conversation. Mad at myself for having that extra piece of pie on Christmas Eve (and beyond), the extra glasses of wine, the extra serving of excuses for not getting up and continuing my training while on vacation. I realized that whereas I enjoyed my holiday indulgences, they had taken a far greater toll that I felt they would in the moment. Getting "back in the saddle" was not going to be as easy as I thought.

Around dot 3 I considered sitting on the sidelines with some of the other parents - admittedly far less athletic than even I. And just as I almost did, my sweet little boy came jogging up to me. "This is fun, Mom! Are you having fun? How many dots do you have? I have six! See ya!" he sailed off into the distance with a huge smile on his face. At that moment I remembered something I realized I had forgotten - that a huge part of why I'm doing all of this fitness stuff has absolutely nothing to do with me.

I was never an athletic kid. I tried to go out for the basketball team in junior high, and tried to be a cheerleader once which was a huge disaster. I always associated running the track with punishment of one kind or another - when the class got out of hand or we didn't finish some kind of assignment or something. There was a time when I enjoyed athletics… I even jumped hurdles in 5th grade track meets… But the knee condition I inherited from my father stopped that short. I was a senior in high school when I had my first knee operation. After that being "active" was really no longer part of the game plan, to coin a phrase.

I realize how my sedentary lifestyle, the processed foods that we all rely upon, the screen-based nature of our entertainment and communication, are not just a product of my childhood but all of our environments. There was something about that moment standing there on the track watching him race past that made me want to preserve that moment not just for him but for me and for my daughter Iylah who's 10 - already twice his age. If she doesn't learn how to be "active" now, she may well end up like me, 45 years old and still trying to figure it out.

So I took a deep breath and went for it. Boy am I glad I did. Granted, I only got eight total dots to Iain's 15 but you know what, that was 23 raffle tickets combined! And even though he didn't win the bike, we both won something that day. We got to have a great time together on a Saturday morning running and walking along the track together, holding hands when it was time to take a break, talking about school, spending time outside together that we would never have otherwise spent. It was a special morning with my five-year-old boy. And I made an important personal connection - that even if I didn't learn about being active early enough in my life for it to become a habit, it doesn't mean it's too late for my kids. And it's not too late for me to lead the way.

Kudos to the Physical Education staff at Oak Hill Elementary for creating the event for all the students and their families!

About Heather McKissick

Heather McKissick is a self-proclaimed fitness wannabe and a true novice at being "intentional" about her health and well being. She is particularly interested in the idea of resilience … how to bounce back from difficult circumstances or just plain keep going during her busy working life. She is 45, a non-profit CEO, a community leader, happily married for 15 years, and mother to two small and very energetic children, ages 5 and 10. "I just want to be the best I can be in all areas of my life," said McKissick. "The older I get, the more I realize that energy is everything, and I want more!"

Heather can be reached via Leadership Austin at www.leadershipaustin.org.