Glory Days

I had a 16 year old boy in my office the other day telling me about his glory days. Apparently, he was quite the exerciser when he was 12! Almost everyone it seems carries around an image of their more fit selves. The two most common scenarios I encounter are middle-aged guys telling me what athletes they were in high school or moms who are still blaming their excess body weight on the babies they had 20, 30 or even 40 years ago.

I will always be incredibly proud of the marathon I ran in 1991. There is nothing like training for and finishing your first race. It makes you feel powerful and helps you discover what your mind and body are capable of. While I will always have marathon bragging rights, fitness is much more fleeting. You must do something almost everyday to maintain your fitness level or you will lose it. There is no getting around this fact.

Your glory days don't have to be behind you. Even though I don't think I will ever run anther full marathon, that doesn't mean I have taken up residence on the couch either. Everyday I find a way to fit some form of exercise into my busy schedule. And I am always glad I did. Look at it this way: 95% of the population is completely sedentary. If you do any amount of regular exercise, that automatically puts you in the top 5% for fitness. Not a bad place to be.

Every step you take puts you one step closer to your goal. Use your past success to remind you of what you can achieve not to psych yourself out. These are my glory days and there is no real reason they can't be yours too!