Victorious Wellness

I wanted to go to the track after work for a short workout this week. I finally made it on the first day I did not have an after work commitment. The track I landed upon was my third choice because the first two had either a school competition or a track club practice happening. Even the third track had a young girls' lacrosse team practice on the infield.

It was a good practice, albeit short. In a half-hour I sprinted three 200 meter runs - halfway around the track - each in under thirty seconds. It was a regular, unremarkable practice (except my calves did not give out at the end, which they tend to do early in the training season). At least it was unremarkable until after the workout and after the cool down.

I was walking back to the car when I noticed a couple parents of the lacrosse girls talking on cell phones. I don't know why I was prompted to have this crazy idea I am about to share, but I did. I decided to count the parents (aside from the two men coaching the lacrosse team).

While I was practicing...

a father was playing catch football with his kids - 1

a mom was sort-of-playing catch with the youngest sibling - 2

a couple was walking around the track with their kids and Chihuahua - 4

a mom was sitting on a beach towel watching her daughter practice - 5

several parents sat in their own cars while their little girl improved her game - 8

and as I mentioned earlier, two parents were in the parking lot on cell phones - 10

Did you notice the correlation, too?

It's OK if you do not, I will tell you. The statistics show that just over 60% of our nation's adults are not physically active. In my little count, four parents were actively engaged in playing and six parents were inactively engaged in spectating or doing their own thing. The numbers played out perfectly.

I always hear how hard it is to commit to an active lifestyle or how time-consuming it can be. I get that! I know that committing to an active lifestyle requires effort and time. But often times, it just takes a little effort in a small dosage such as: playing with your kids, walking around a very uncrowded track or slipping in a few 200 meter sprints on the way home.

What little things can you do today?

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