Ongoing linky parties: Motivation Monday and Fabulously Frugal Thursdays.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to support running A Life in Balance.
I’ve never been a competitive athlete. When I was growing up, I played field hockey in middle school. I was a run of the mill player, certainly not fast since I was in the middle of my weight-gaining unhappy phase. Before field hockey, I remember one brief instant of playing kickball during summer camp, and beating the pants off the other team.
When I got to college, I discovered the joy of competition in intramural sports. My boyfriend at the time introduced me to broom ball which I loved instantly. We played in a gym with brooms and nerf balls and followed hockey rules. I found my competitive spirit! In fact, after years of not being picked for teams, I was asked to be on broom ball teams – Woohoo!
For a long time after college, my only exercise was running, and walking. I ran a few races when my oldest son was young, and then I stopped. One fall, I joined a local women’s soccer pick up team, and found my competitive spirit again. I was challenged, supported, and grew to love soccer. My dream is find time to play again. While I love watching my kids play soccer, it’s not enough. I’m itching to be out there on the field myself.
I’m also itching to run races, and see how I do against runners in my age group. I had so much fun running the 5k in West Chester a month ago, pushing myself to pass people and better my time.
I’m hoping my children, some of them, will be bitten by the bug, too. I signed my 5 year old daughter and 7 year old son up for a local running series. Both of them did well for their age groups. I could see the joy on their faces when they started their races, and their excitement in finishing.
Ultimately, we all compete against ourselves, our weaker selves. It takes discipline and courage to keep going when your legs protest about that last hill. I’ve always said hills build character.
As a mom, do you compete in your sport or do it for fun?
Because I love meeting new people and sharing, this post is linked to:Fitness Friday, Finer Things Friday
Disclosure: To help pay for running this blog, I am an Amazon Associate.
Subscribe to my RSS feed to stay on top of the latest posts. Or follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
I share because I care, so feel free to use any of my images as long as they are credited and accompanied by a link back to A Life in Balance. Failure to link back and credit my site as a source constitutes a copyright violation. Thanks!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I am not a competitive person at all when it comes to sports. I have never been very athletic, but I did recently join a boot camp to get in better shape. I’m really happy with the results so far, and maybe one day I’ll be able to really run and play sports with my kids! (Stopping by from Finer Things Friday)
Tiffany recently posted..Simple Savings Series: Packing snacks for school
Running has definitely brought out a competitive side of me! I still do it for fun, but enjoy pushing myself as well.
I love that we’re running together against each other, yet going through the experience together.