Since I was 5 years old I have been involved in sports of some kind. Over the years I have played baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis, swimming, bowling, and the last five years, cycling. I’ve never been great in any particular sport but I can hold my own in any of them. Obviously, as the years have passed, I have slowed down quite a bit but I still love to compete. And I still love to win no matter the competition – cards, chess, sports, trivia or company picnic kickball. If I’m playing, it’s to win. Period.
For the better part of the last twenty years, I have coached either high school football or baseball but in May of 2017 I decided to hang up my whistle. Whether this is a short term decision or long term I really don’t know. I am just trusting that God will continue to show me the path He has for me. Over this time I have really only been active during the seasons and didn’t do anything physical beyond the time I was on the field coaching. I did play baseball for several seasons in a 35 and older Men’s Baseball League but that was nothing more than a Sunday afternoon game each week.
Four years ago or so, at the urging of one of my best friends, I decided to try road cycling. I really do love cycling but just can’t seem to get enough time to ride as often as I would like to. In the past six months I have made a greater commitment to spend more time in the saddle and have taken part in a Fondo event with another event coming up December 1 of this year. I would welcome any advice, suggestions or training from anyone willing to share. My biggest challenge is that I really dislike hills. I’ve gotten better but still not entirely fun.
So with Cycling as my “focus” activity and along with committing to a healthier eating lifestyle, I wanted to increase my overall strength. I found a four day a week workout routine that I really love. Since May, I have only missed four of my scheduled workouts and two of those were this past week. As I mentioned in my post last week, I am down a total of about 20 pounds or so. Although I have plateaued lately in weight loss, my body shape as most definitely changed.
In late July I decided I wanted to start competing in cycling events. I have no misconceptions about where I am in the sport of cycling but I want the challenge of having a starting point and then lets see how much I can improve over the next year, three years and five years.
Additionally, as September was approaching I started thinking how cool it would be to start participating in some Triathlon Sprint competitions. So it is, that two weeks ago I found a training program for beginners to the Sprint competitions. I have now added Tuesday spinning and swimming to my weekly workout schedule in the hopes of being able to compete in some sprints in the near future.
I have been asked why I have been so public with this “personal” pursuit of mine by a couple of people. Honestly, some of it is vanity as I do plan on looking back at my accomplishments at some point. Additionally, by being public, I have built in some accountability for myself. I now have to follow through with all of this. And if by doing this I can inspire just one person to start taking better care of themselves, then this will truly be a great endeavor! Finally, if nothing else, I’m healthier and feel better physically, more than I have in years.
That’s the physical part of this journey. Next post I will dive into more of the mental/spiritual side of my journey and share with you more of my fundamental thoughts of life. Yes, I will share about my faith in Christ but my goal is to hopefully share in a way that everyone can glean something from my journey.
Peace and thanks for reading,
Scott
Thoughts of Life 