There’s been an interesting ‘thing’ happening in our home. Our daughter, Anna, decided to compete in an Olympic Triathlon (a little shorter than a full triathlon), on May 1st in California. A number of the top corporate leaders from Visalus are competing in the race and Anna thought it would be a great way to get to know them better!

 

The race she’s doing is actually a relay - 3 people: one for swimming, one for bicycling and one for running. Her plan was to run and then find two other partners. For some strange reason - I think it had to do with thinking this would be a great father/daughter activity - I said I would do the bike portion - 25 miles with 6 steep hills! Take note that the last regular bike riding I did was in high school - about 35 years ago!

 

After I said that I was in, Anna began having serious conversations with me about what that commitment looked like and the fact that my current eating and exercise/training program was simply not at par with what was needed!

 

I upped the training - and it started to get exciting - now my workouts actually had a real purpose: to not let my daughter down! My 90-Day Challenge had new life and new meaning. It was no longer about losing some weight and looking better, it was about a commitment and a performance. 

 

It also became about some real reality checks and self-questioning - like why was I going to spend 2 hours a day training, for the next 60 days, just so that I could drive to California, spend a bunch of money and bike 26 miles?? Plus I have to buy a bike and I don’t even know if I like bike riding! An hour every day in Spin-Class gives you lots of time to think about stuff! And then the big question, what if I can’t finish my part of the race and end up letting my daughter down?

 

So why? Because life is for living and having experiences and this just looks like it could be a great experience . . . not just the race, but the process of keeping the commitment to train, to prepare and to show up. It’s the commitment to becoming more fit, to seeing what it takes to break through respiratory issues I’ve had all of my life due to asthma, to doing something different and challenging, to doing something fun with my daughter, to creating new memories!

 

A 90-Day Challenge is a great way to impact any area of your life. Where are you willing to make a change, make a commitment to new behaviors and actions, and then show up to create new results in your life?

 

And now the Rest of the Story . . . looks like we’re not finding a swimmer to round out our relay team . . . my first thought, maybe we should just not go and save the money and time. Anna’s first thought - she’d better head down to the swimming pool and learn how to swim a mile in open water! Putting this into context: swimming has had a very, very minor role in her life until this week! 

 

We’ll keep you posted on our progress on Facebook - counting down 59 days as of March 1st!