Sunday Night With John: Man Crush Sunday

The alarm went off at 5 a.m. on Friday, signaling it was time to start my day. I was finishing up week three of marathon training. I had a 3.5-mile run on Friday, then a 6-mile run on Saturday. I always feel that weeks three and four of a new training program are the hardest. The first two weeks I’m all excited about the new adventure but by week three I’m thinking, "why the heck am I doing this to myself?" That’s where my head was this Friday morning and I rolled over and headed back to sleep. I told myself I'd go to the gym at 7:30. I just needed another two hours of sleep to find my motivation.  

I begrudgingly found my way to the gym by 7:30 a.m. I used to go to the gym at that time every day a couple of years ago.  Then, I moved my workout to an earlier hour to make my morning around the house easier with a puppy to keep an eye on. One of the things I missed by going to the gym more than two hours late was a group of older gentlemen who worked out then. This crew of five was all above the age of 80 (and one was pushing 90). How could anyone not make it to the gym when a group of retired gentlemen managed to make it there consistently? As I turned the corner to begin my workout, I saw my senior crush group. They were in their warm-up phrase, riding bikes and working out on the elliptical. I chuckled to myself about attempting to locate my motivation this morning while these gentlemen showed up like clock work.

As I did my warm-up, my wandering eyes kept creeping over to the seasoned crew of exercisers. I do not know their names and have had only passing conversations with them about fluff. I have to admire their ability to keep moving. There are theories and facts that exercise extends, not just the length of life, but the quality of life. However, I think there is a more valuable lesson, that I was reminded of on Friday morning --the power of movement and pushing yourself. Those five elderly guys are still doing dumbbell triceps, squats, and bench-press reps and cycling out five miles, five days a week. They do a balance ball exercise where they balance on one of those half balance balls and toss a medicine ball between them.  This is an activity I should join in on because my balance sucks. While I know I can lift more than them and run faster than them, I’m pretty sure they are better than me in this activity.

I felt a little sheepish after watching this inspiring group complete their work-out, which lasted five minutes longer than mine did. The tug to be complacent, and not move was strong Friday morning. And, while I fought it off and made it to the gym, I still felt guilty.  I had to talk myself into it.  I was witnessing five men, many years my senior, prove how important it is to show up, keep moving, and not give in to being complacent. I hope I have their attitude when I reach their age. I hope I will not be done with challenging myself.  I hope I will still believe that there is always another rep to be had, always another milestone to reach, and always a reason to keep moving.

I might, over the remaining 17 weeks of my marathon training, sneak in on Friday mornings and check out my senior crush crew. I might need a reminder to not give in to the tug of, "I have done enough".  I might need to give up the excuse that there is nothing left to prove, or that I have reached my greatest height. My secret crush crew will remind me that, if I do not keep at it, I might find myself not meeting my goals.  More importantly, surrounding myself with people who remind me of the most important trait anyone can have--to just keep moving, just keep pushing to reach your goals, is the best way to keep motivated. Who knows, maybe someday, I’ll be lucky enough to be that old man, inspiring the young man not to give up.  Because I did the one thing everybody needs to be successful, I kept moving.