Tri-fit

A few months ago I was talking to a girlfriend of mine who is married, 33 years old, and never ever ever wanted children.  But her sister had a baby about a year ago and something about holding that little girl made her hormones do flips and somersaults and triple toe loops.  My friend has decided maybe, just maybe, she would like to have a baby. After all, she will be awfully lonely one day when her parents pass. She got to talking about how hard she works to stay in shape and one reason to not have a baby was to maintain her never-pregnant female body.  Then she realized, "What is my body really doing for me, anyway?" I'm glad she's decided a pregnant body and post-pregnant body wouldn't really be so bad, and she got me thinking... what is my body doing for me and what am I doing for my body?

I know many mothers who look great after having kids.  In fact, some of them drop below their pre-pregnancy weight with little effort other than breast feeding and look even better than pre-pregnancy because they have great bodies AND a motherly glow! I've always expected that my hips and butt will get huge with pregnancy then never quite be the same, but it was a risk I was and am willing to take.  After all, what does my body really do for me? 

Now that I find myself 30-something and unpregnified, I've decided rather than pouting about it, this year I will make the best use of my body possible.  I hope to pregnify it one day, but until then, why not enjoy and use what God gave me.  I've always been active, but I recently joined a gym and I've been going most days.  I broke a new 5K record today, 29 minutes 45 seconds.  For those of you who run, you're probably saying "Uh, that broke a record?"  Well it was my record, and I broke it, and I'm proud.  I actually cut 30 seconds off of my Tuesday time so I think I am on my way to smashing way beyond my meager running goals in no time at all.  

I have a friend who is urging me to do a triathalon with her this year. For both of us, it would be our first. 

Running...check.  

Biking...check.  

Swimming....brrr, ick, water in my nose, panic in the water, I can't see!, fatigue, shortness of breath, brrrr, goose bumps, swimming lessons when I was just a little chid barely making it into the pool and spending most of the class shivering and never ever putting my face in the water, collapsing with fatigue after a 10 minute high school swim in gym class, funny smells, falling off the end of the "train" with my sisters into the deep end of a hotel pool, panic!, falling into the Black River and being nearly swept away by the rapid current (thanks Kristin and Joey), I can't see!, its too cold! Blech.  

So here is my challenge: Learn to swim.  Just get over it.  

Which resolutions can I apply here? Breathe more deeply.  Engage.  Worry less/stop complicating things.  Why couldn't I be a tri-athlete?  Why couldn't I learn to swim?  Why couldn't I get my body into the best shape its ever been in?  Why not work out, eat well, look good, feel good?  What else do I have to do, anyway?