5 Top Personal Fitness Experiences

I once had a transactional relationship with fitness; I exercised in exchange for burned calories and a clean bill of health. It was a chore on my to-do list. Truthfully, it was a grind and created an on-again/off-again affair.

My relationship with fitness today is completely different - it is like a friend who tames my anxiety, boosts my confidence, and takes me on adventures. This got me thinking about my top 5 fitness experiences and how the affected my fitness journey (all these experiences were during the 16 months I was on bail before going to prison).

1. BICYCLING THE ELROY-SPARTA TRAIL with my friend, Shawn. As I was pursuing a fitness lifestyle, it was my first little trip I took that centered around exercise. Doing it with my friend was awesome. The trail is a flat, mostly packed dirt/gravel. I felt utterly free, despite being 10 months away from reporting to prison. This experience took my mind to the intersection of fitness and adventure.

2. FIRST DUATHALON (which was somewhere in Wisconsin) with my friend Steve. The positive energy with all the participants was mind blowing. There were kids, grandmas, athletes and newbies like me and Steve. This energy stayed with me well beyond the race and was a feeling I had been searching for my whole life. While being out there racing, I felt my life kick into another gear so to speak. I went from reading about things people do, to participating in them. This experience opened me up to the idea that fitness was a way to participate in my life. Perhaps corny, but looking back this simple race sparked something inside me that would carry me to DO more things that would change my life.

3. GRANDDAD'S HALF MARATHON in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I averaged 7:45 miles, which is above my pay grade as I am not a strong runner. But, I pushed above my comfortable threshold for an extended period of time. This was not a skill I had developed in my life as I usually went up to my threshold and rarely went past it. This experience provided comfort knowing I could increase my mental endurance through fitness (pushing above my comfort line longer than I previous did) in order to endure the mundane existence of prison.

4. AN EIGHTY EIGHT (88) MILE BIKE RIDE from Bangor, WI to Fountain City, WI and back. I reached my breaking point around mile 70 and still had 18 miles to go and a huge climb. I had already bonked and vowed that I would never ride a bike again. I hated biking. I also concluded that this fitness lifestyle was not for me. I would accept mediocre and go back to my comfortable ways. Climbing the last mountain (yes, it was a mountain at the time. I guess it has gotten small since then.) I hit the sand shoulder and fell back into the road. I was bloody, pissed, and left with no choice to keep going. After 88 miles and making it back to my cabin, I felt a rush of being born again (to be dramatic about it). I went past a point I never had before and something came alive inside of me - I came to know this as my Inner Athlete, which is using physical fitness to awaken inspiration. I have never been the same since this bike ride.

5. WINNING A DUATHALON in my age group (40 - 45) in Stevens Point, WI. I believe this was my fourth one and I got the right kind of bike, learned how to race a little, and gave it my all. That day, I raced my heart out, but for no other reason than to find another part of me that might be in there. At the end of the race, there was no dramatic finish and I had no idea how my time faired for the rest of the field. I really didn't care, or I thought, until they starting doing awards and called me for first place for my age group. I went up there for my $2 medal and stood on the podium for a cheesy photo. Two people fist bumped me and it was time to pack up my little rental car and drive home. As soon as I drove out of the parking lot of that race, tears flowed uncontrollably down my cheeks for miles. I was releasing fear and pain I was living with it because I knew I could make it through the adversity of prison and also that my real life was actually beginning.