I have four kids, and as we all know at some point and time they get frustrated at what their siblings can do.  They play soccer better, they run faster, and they do EVERYTHING better!  This can sometimes lead them to give up on a task, but more often than not they try harder until they are better than their peers.  They constantly try to do as well as their siblings.  I am currently trying to recapture this childhood ideal.  The ability to be undeterred by those that are better than you.  The ability to look at someone else’s success and see possibility!  I must admit this is harder than I thought as I am just struggling to find time to work out.  I have hit a major slump in my workouts and gained 10 lbs. over a month of travel.

I was feeling a little down when I went down to the hotel exercise room to sneak in a quick, or rather slow, five mile run.  As I logged my first slow mile a lady came into the hotel gym with a man who appeared to be her trainer.  She was quite fit, but not muscular.  Moments later a very buff lady walked in.  I began to feel a smidge self-conscious.  Then in walked a seriously buff woman.  All three there surrounding me with their super fit bodies and me with my nice layer of pudge.  I thought about stopping as I finished a slightly faster 3^rd mile.  But then I realized that I was the beginning rung on this ladder of fitness.  While I may have been the least fit woman in the room, each woman showed me the next step in my path.  The second lady worked harder than the first, and the third had worked the hardest.

I kicked the treadmill up a notch and cranked out two more miles.  I may not have been as strong as them, but I could be!  Those super buff women have reignited my fitness fervor, and I have since been upping my running game.  I have added squats, planks and some upper arm weights.   Here’s to all those that inspire rather than bring you down!