Childhood inspiration

arwo

This is a question I want to ask but I haven't really figured out how I want to ask it, so forgive me if it seems weird and confused. Also, I'm not feeling very concise, and I don't have the patience to edit myself. So:

As I do most Patriots' Days, I got up and watched the Boston Marathon yesterday (if you haven't watched it, you owe it to yourself to watch at least the last couple of miles. Great race this year!) And I woke up this morning to the sad news that Grete Waitz died--I've always thought of her as the "grandmother" of women's distance running.

These things got me thinking about my earliest memories of running: the 1984 Olympics, with the first Olympic women's marathon, and Joan Benoit kicking ass; doing the children's "fun runs" at races that my parents were doing, and then waiting at the finish line for my parents to finish their races; running a 1-mile race on the track in the rain (I won! I still have my little trophy); beating all of the boys in elementary school when we had to do the school-wide "fitness tests."

I think we focus so much on appearance/weight, fitness/health that sometimes we forget about the passion we might have for things, and how that started.

So, here is my question: what are your earliest sports and fitness-related memories? Do you think they affect how you think about your fitness-related goals today? Do you use those memories as motivation on days when you'd rather sit around on the couch?

Or: do you just exercise because you feel you have to, or ought to? Do you think a lack of "childhood motivation" makes you see workouts as chore?

AdeleDazeem

I have a few first memories...

I can remember the day I figured out how to tread water in the deep end of the baby pool.  I was little... maybe three or four?  I was SO PROUD.  From that day forward, I asked my mom relentlessly to put me in the "big pool".  Without swimmies.  When she finally realized that I could actually swim, she put me in swim lessons and I began competitive swimming at age 8.

I qualified for our big end of the year meet when I was 10.  I did 25 m of butterfly and completely blew away the competition in my heat.  My coach, whose daughter qualified for the Olympics, went over to my mom and said "Put that child in year round swimming and competitions.  She can be great."

In the end, I wasn't what they wanted me to be, but I had my own little victories in my ten years of swimming.

I wish there were places for me to swim around here.  I'm not big on sharing lanes so I need my own pool (ha!). Instead, I run.  I can compete against myself and have my own personal victories again.  Yup, exercise is great for the weight, but also the psyche.  I learned that young :-)

heartxsongs

My childhood fitness memories are mostly negative.  Gym was one of my least favorite classes because I didn't like competitive sports.  I remember liking the obstacle courses, bowling, and jump rope in elementary school because they were more fun than the competitive games to me.

I think my first positive experience with physical education was when I took wellness walking in high school.  I took it as a cop-out gym class because I knew I wouldn't like the sports classes, but I ended up really enjoying it.  You had to walk fast to keep up with the teacher and make it back to school in time for your next class. 

I was in the best shape of my life after that class, and I think back to how I looked at that time as motivation for now.  I know I won't likely ever be in the same shape as I was in high school, but I felt healthy then and I think that does help motivate me now.

(This was a very interesting topic to think about, as I haven't really ever looked at it in this light before!)

J&K10910

My earliest sports/fitness inspirations that I can remember are "the magnificent seven".  You know, the US women's gymnastics team?  I loooooove Dominique Moceanu and and Shannon Miller.

But that was back when I did gymnastics.  They don't affect me much anymore.  I don't know that I have much inspiration now except not feeling like a lazy piece of crap.

w102nao

I tried to like sports but I was never good at them. Gymnasts were always my favorite

My sister runs marathons and I can't run 2 miles.... but I think we are all built for different things and we are all motivated by diferent things.

I love yoga and I would rather cut everything I eat in half than work out.  I am never motivated to go to the gym...

feinicstine

Ok mine's really weird.  I was going to write about my riding instructors and the other girls at the barn but I realized thay my earliest inspiration was probably my first horse.  I remember getting him and plodding around on him.  Then one day, his old owner who rode at the same barn still asked if she could hop on him "for old time's sake".

I had been eventing with the other girls so I knew that my horse was capable of the fences and dressage tests I was asking him to do.  We were even winning fairly consistently.  But I didn't know where he had really learned it.  When I saw his old owner get on him and move him through a dressage test many levels higher than anything I was competing in, I knew I wanted to be able to do that with him.  When I heard stories about their cross country adventures, I knew I wanted to do that too.

So, I think my first inspiration was being the kind of rider that could use the full potential of my horse (his name was Chad).

Chad's not here anymore, and now I have Nick.  Nick is another old faithful who's carried to me nothing less than a third every time I've taken him to a show.  But mostly, Nick's been a friend to me.  I trained him in dressage myself, after he came to me from racing and then fox hunting.  He's not much of a jumper anymore, owing to the splints in his legs from racing and the fact that he just turned 20, but he can still get his old butt in gear on the flat.  We're never going to be spectacular, but it's nice to know that I can ask something of him and he'll give it a good honest try (sometimes it even works out!).

GBroc22

I love this post...and the memories that you shared must have been truly special that they still hold such a special place in your mind/heart.

I have the greatest memories of sports growing up.  I started at age 5 and played basketball and soccer until senior year of high school, and then only soccer up to this very day My fondest memories are traveling from one game to another (some weekends I'd have 6 games over 2 days), with my variety of Gatorades and my mom and dad ready to coach and cheer me on.  I loved playing my very best and ending the day hot and sweaty...and so happy!

I think childhood experiences with athletics definitely shaped my feelings on exercise.  For me, it is truly part of who I am, and not a chore or something I "have" to do, but rather something that I love doing

raynes

Disclaimer: I suck at remembering things now!

As a kid I remember taking gymnastics during March Break and loving it.  Sadly, I got really tall really fast and was not a graceful child at all.  I had pretty terrible coordination too.  I remember playing t-ball and liking it, even if I sucked.    Other than that, most weekends my parents would take us roller blading or biking.  I think I stopped doing that because it "wasn't cool" but it was fun.

Later in my HS years I enjoyed less team sport things and more so things like camping and rock climbing and hiking, but never really did things a lot.

Looking back, and looking at how I am now, I really want to instill a love of sports and fitness into our future children.  I think that starting young and learning to love something for just the act of doing it (rather than for weight/appearance goals) is important.

The summer I remember having the best legs was when I had to bike my brother to day-camp and bike up to bring him lunch and bring him home each day.  It was mostly uphill and I had the most banging quads that summer.  After that I worked out for much more vain reasons.

jfletcher3113

J&K me too!! hahahaha

My friends and I used to "play" Olympics and make up balance beam and floor routines. I wasn't much of a gymnast but I tried.

I clearly remember that though - that was the first Olympics I remember watching.

When I was young I loved soccer and dance and did both until I was told I had to choose one. To my father's dismay, dance won out.  I remember having a very positive outlook on fitness. It was fun for me, not something that I had to do. I never worried about body image or weight as a teenager because I was so active and I felt good.

I find that now, as an adult, if I "fall off the workout wagon" for too long I view working out as a chore. However, once I get back into the swing of it I NEED it. It becomes my time out for the day and I physically crave being... well... physical. I'm not sure if my childhood fitness experiences play into this but I do know that as a child and teenager I was always  moving so it seems logical that so many years of being active would mold how I view being active as an adult.