This past weekend my husband and I did a 17 mile bike ride on Saturday. My husband loves to bicycle. It is easy on his knees and is much more pleasant for him than a formal work out at the "Y". If you had asked me just a couple of years ago if I would choose a long bike ride or a work out, I would have chosen the work out. Cycling was definitely harder for me, mainly becasue of stamina. But to be with my husband and to vary the routine, I have embraced cycling and I am getting better and better at it.
The reality is that to permanently embrace a healthy lifestyle you have to integrate healthy activity into your everyday life and make sure it is a "family affair". My husband likes to bike ride and now I do too. My daughter gave me the amazing Mother's Day gift of working out at the "Y" with me a few times a week...which we are still doing. And as a family, we participate in organized charity walks, rolls and rides.
This past weekend my husband, daughter and I spent Sunday morning participating in a 5K Walk for the NSCD...an amazing organization that provides adaptive sports for those who are differently-abled. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining and warm weather. We marched alongside 5000 other people. It was such a fun thing to do for a great cause and with my family...and healthy! In the "former life" the only thing I would have wanted to do on a Sunday morning was sleep in or go out to brunch after church. Who would ever have imagined that I would relish a 5K at age 55 on a Sunday morning! Certainly not the "old me". Sometimes I feel that I need to pinch myself...can this new mode really be a part of me? It feels good, I want to keep doing it...so I guess it really is "me"!
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