Even if the statics on health and fitness paint a dim picture of this truth, let's not be discouraged. The picture has another side! There truly are zillions of people out there who share a love for physical fun. (or are open to developing one!) Let's focus on the positive, by applauding their successes, and supporting them through their challenges.

Even though our bodies may all look different, we endure similar types of health and fitness trials.  Instead of braving those by ourselves, how about sharing them?"  The act of sharing, is like an act of kindness. It is a great way to signal to the universe that "I need some support!", or that "I want to celebrate this!"  In turn, others respond offering their support and encouragement. The blessings of doing so, shower upon all of us.

This month we applaud..........
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Maynard

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As I did lap after lap this morning, cranking out some yardage before the sun comes up, I can’t help but think of how I got here.  I hear my dad’s voice, “Focus, watch your stroke, kick it into gear, let’s go,” and I resign myself to ponder this later in the day.  From practically birth through college, I was a swimmer and water polo player.  It was my senior year in college that I decided to hang up the swim suit and try another challenge, ice hockey.  These experiences are a chapter in my life all of their own, but it all leads to my latest endeavor.  Throughout the time I was playing hockey, which started after the new year of 1998, I always had this feeling that I should be swimming.  I was having a lot of fun playing hockey, so I really blew off the whole idea and enjoyed my new activity, at a greatly reduced level of intensity and frequency.

 In the early spring of 2002, two life changing events occurred.  The first was the death of my father, who also happened to be my coach for swimming and water polo my entire life, as well as my personal hero.  The second was the birth of my first child, Paige.  I was still playing hockey at the time and ignoring the little voice in my head to return to the water.  But then things really started to change.

I was beginning to dream about swimming again.  Not just the endless laps of training, but the competition of regional swim meets that were as much a part of my life growing up as eating, sleeping, and homework.  For the next two years, the dreams became more frequent and the little voice in my head was starting to become louder, took on my father’s tone and characteristics, and became increasingly harder to ignore.  About half way through the 2004 hockey season, I sat on the bench after a scrimage, saying out loud, “I have got to get back in the water.”  Earlier in the day, I was tipping the scale at 245 lbs., and I was feeling even more sluggish than ever.  At 28 year old, I found that I got winded a lot faster, wasn’t moving as easily as I used to, and I couldn’t really blame it on age.  And if I kept going in this direction, my health would suffer, and with my family’s history of heart disease and cancer, this was not a good path.  That same night, the team I was playing for wanted another person to play goalie, a position that I had retained since moving to town 6 years before, and I really wasn’t that bad either.  Not being good at any other position, the hockey team made my decision for me.  After mindlessly playing hockey for another month, I turned in my uniform and said goodbye to the frozen water. 

 It was 5:30 AM on the second Monday of April and I was saying hello to the wet water for the first time in over 6 years.  The scent of chlorine was in the air, and the water was just as brisk as I remembered it.  I dove in and went right to work, doing mostly short distance sets and proud of myself for getting in 2,000 yards in an hour, just about the most dedication I could give the pool and still hold down a full time job and take care of daddy-duties.  Over the next couple of months, my practice sets became more involved, faster, and harder, and my yardage was now a maximum of 3,000 yards per hour, I had dropped weight to 230 lbs., and as I swam I could hear my father’s, my coach’s, voice ring with quips and quotes that made him famous throughout the years of walking the deck in western New York.  Now, a swimmer can only do countless laps for so long before the idea of racing enters their mind.  I was no exception, even at my age and my time away from the sport.  I talked to my wife about this, and she asked, “Do you think you can win?”  I was honest and I said, “No, I can’t win, but I can be respectable, which is all I am going for.  If I’m swimming, I need to race.  That’s how I work.”  The next day I was registered with USA Swimming and had signed up to compete in my first meet in over 10 years.  A look at the psych sheet was laughable as I was nearly 12 years older than the next oldest in my events.  And I wasn’t seeded that far back, either, in the race.  I had forgotten how to race so I resigned myself to the idea of just go as fast as I can for as long as I can and don’t get disqualified.  Surprisingly, I finished in the top 8 of all my events swam, didn’t get disqualified, and hit state qualifying time in all of my events, and I felt great.  The times weren’t great but not bad either after a ten year hiatus.

 For the next two years, I continued to go like this.  I swam in about 4 meets a year, and my daily work outs were about maxed for yardage at 3,500 yards per hour.  And then I got another “brilliant idea.”  Our City hosts an annual sprint triathlon, ½ mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 5K run.  I could sleep through the swim, the bike would not be a problem, though it wouldn’t be fast either, and the run, well, that was a demon all its own.  I have always wanted to do a triathlon and with about a month and half before the race, I had made up my mind, I was going to do my first ever triathlon.  I did my best attempt at training for the race, borrowed a mountain bike from a friend and mutual triathlete, and I was geared up for the race.  The race didn’t go as great as I thought it would.  I about killed myself on the bike, it had been over 10 years since I rode one of those contraptions, and the run was no fun at all.  My only crowning achievement from this race, other than finishing on my own two feet without assistance after 1 hour and 45 minutes, was being first out of the water, besting seasoned triathletes and high school swimmers.  Following the race, I told everyone that asked that I wasn’t going to do it again.  Three hours later, I was on a weekend road trip with my family and I had changed my mind completely.  I knew I could do better and I had to prove it to myself.  I was going to buy a road bike, start training earlier and be more focused on what I was training for and really look for improvement. 

In that next year, I continued train, looking at improvement every day on the stopwatch, and I even became a dad for the second time, Misty giving birth to Trey.  I was swimming competitively still and my times were dropping little by little.  The only thing that really changed was the age gap between me and the kids that I was racing.  In my second ever triathlon, the competition was tougher, and there were a couple of equipment malfunctions, but I still managed to drop about 15 minutes off my personal best, and I won my age group.  I felt better after the race, didn’t need an ice bath, and I knew that this would be a yearly event for me.

 After Trey was born, my wife and I changed our diet.  I am training harder and faster than ever in my second coming, and I am now at my high school weight, a thick 200 lbs., and looking to drop even more.  My love for the water has spread to my daughter and she has become quite the little fish at age 5.  My son has yet to really get into the water, but that is only a matter of time.  I feel tons better about myself and my appearance.  I feel healthier, stronger, and just as spry as I did back in my college days.  I have even convinced a couple friends to join my in the pool a couple of days a week and I help them with their stroke and their training, and they too are enjoying themselves.  I also helped train a friend’s kids for a youth triathlon held in town.  The finished first and second in their age group, 2 seconds apart from one another, and beating their competition by 5 minutes.

I am enjoying my new healthy life style, and I hope that this change reflects in the amount of years my family can enjoy my company.  I can’t help but feel that my father is looking down upon me from heaven with a grin of pride on his face.  His boy was back in the water, and coaching, and becoming a chip of the old block.  And when the alarm goes off at 5:00 AM every morning, and all I want to do is roll over and go back to sleep, I think of my wife, and my kids, and I hear my dad saying, “Get out of bed and let’s hit the pool.”  And just like that, I’m back into it, “whatever it takes.”