Disclaimer: The following post is sponsored by Disrupt Aging from AARP. All thoughts, opinions and body pains are my own. 

Have you ever thought about why you do the things you do? For me, it’s trying to be athletic and show my children how athletic I am, but that has not always been the story. I was never much of an athlete when I was younger. I ran around with my friends playing games like freeze tag, and hide-n-seek, but never anything too strenuous. When I went to high school, I joined a few teams, but not being physically fit, my high school athletic career did not advance at all. After graduation, I started thinking that I passed my prime. I passed my time to be fit and to be athletic, but all that changed when I had my daughter.

I have written before about how I knew I needed to get in some type of shape when my daughter was born. I mean a good percentage of parenting is cardio, right? Chasing your children around at home. Chasing them around at the park. Running them from one activity to another. So with all of this running, it was a no-brainer for me to take up running. Running was my sport of choice, by default and it not only proved to be beneficial but also good for my soul.

As I ran I would think about what I needed to do throughout the week. I would plan ways to potty train my daughter and think about what fun adventures we can have at home, but I also had time for myself to reflect. I started thinking about how good running made me feel and why I did not start doing this earlier. I also started thinking about how I can start pushing myself to do more physically.

So here I am. A dad in my mid-thirties and I have just discovered running and I started looking into doing obstacle course racing. When I went to my first race I stood out like a sore thumb. I did not look physically fit like the other participants, but my mind was ready. I figured that I would go into this race with the same mindset that I have for running: Just keep moving forward and don’t stop. I survived my first race and I was hooked.