Master's Athlete of the Year, Rita Hanscom

Rita Hanscom was selected as Master’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year for 2009.

Rita Hanscom (San Diego, Calif.): Named World Masters Athlete of 2009 by the IAAF and World Masters Athletics after winning five gold medals in Lahti and setting a world record in the W55 heptathlon. She’s a deputy attorney general for the state of California.

The photo above is from the 2009 Master’s Track & Field Outdoor World Championships in Lahti, Finland. It was a privilege to meet Rita and her son and daughter.

In Finland, there was a sense of community and fellowship among the 5,300 athletes from 80 countries. It’s challenging to explain. It was unique, competitive, healthy and vibrant, supportive.  Amazingly supportive.

Who couldn’t use as much of that that the law will allow, in pursuing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle?

Shot Put

USATF Press Release, February 8, 2010: United States Largest Master’s Track & Field Indoor World Championships Ever, heading to Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.

Click here to read the official USATF Press Release.

The past few weeks have been a painful reminder how challenging it is to stay motivated. Most of us can eventually find a compelling reason(s) to get healthy.

Few of us find compelling, long-term reasons.

That is why it is essential to figure out a million ways to stay motivated. A million.  Are ya with me.  Succeed or fail.  There is no middle ground.

USA Track and Field does it for me.  For now.

What’s doing it for you?

Lunch in Finland

When do we think about our long term outcomes – from the food choices we make this week?

Um, well, uh, like never.   Right?

Most of us can’t or don’t want to see that far, because it’s too much work. Or, we won’t give up today’s pleasure and convenience for tomorrow’s payoff – good digestive health.

Our son told me last Friday on the drive home from school that he had a “confession”. He doesn’t really like the bread (double fiber) we use to make his lunch sandwiches.

Grateful for the truth, but now what?

So last night on the way home from a doctor’s visit, I stopped to get some food items, including a different kind of bread, but with the same digestive goal – high fiber.

Blogging about health enhances accountability and increases motivation. Are you working on that too?

If not you, who?  If not today, when?  Seriously. Enjoy your lunch.

Special Moments Happen Unnoticed

Last night, while watching the Super Bowl, did some blog surfing and found this Lane 8 healthy blog post from last April.

It’s a story about a Father and a Son having a casual conversation that was as significant, as it was insignificant.

These are the small, often unnoticed moments that make life exciting.

You have one you’d like to share?

If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough.

Hang in there if you are struggling.  Odds are, you are.

I know I sure am. Ran once last week. Once! How is that possible?

So here we are, another week.  Yesterday, I swore there would be time for a run. After delivering four keynote speeches yesterday, each to a different audience, exhaustion took on a whole new meaning. No run.

Today is another day…. for all of us.  Good luck.  Do not give up!

USA Team Jacket

So the second week, I ran two mailboxes a day. Third week, three mailboxes a day.

Yes, many of you have heard this before.  Which is one of the secrets to excellent results – repetition.  Never get tired of doing the basic, common sense things.

Stories are critical to perpetuating past success and moving to even greater success. You already knew that right?

Eventually, the goals became impossible, but their pursuit was compelling.

What’s fascinating is how intense it was to rise to the level of representing the United States at the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships, without anyone knowing.

Neighbors. Family. Work. Ten years. Ten years of dedicated, relentless effort.

Invisible to everyone around me. For a decade.

Now, neighbors know.  And Family knows. Yet to this day, most where I work have no idea.

And so the question today is this, “What is your impossible goal and will you persue it without any fanfare or glory, but just for the sake that it’s a noble goal?”

Lane 8, Finland

Lane 8 is where the slowest competitor is placed. In swimming. In running.

You never saw Michael Phelps (world’s fastest swimmer) in Lane 8.  You never saw Usain Bolt (world’s fastest runner) in Lane 8.

And yet Lane 8 is my goal.

This week, like most of you, there was a serious struggle to find the right balance of physical activity and healthy nutrition.  Diet and exercise.

Here’s one of my little secrets.  Are you interested in it?

Dream Big. Get There.  Stay There.

Come up with a mantra, a saying, that will keep you focused on one simple goal.

To not give up, no matter the set backs.  Ever!

Warning or Example?

Are you a movie star?

A rock star?

A Hollywood celebrity?

Most likely, we can all answer these questions with a resounding, “No.”

But I beg to offer a different perspective (imagine that, lol).

People are watching you the same way they watch famous people, and they are doing the same thing to you they do after watching famous people.

Judging.

We are all telling a story about what we value. Yes, we are. Every single day.  Every choice we make is another “scene” from the movie entitled “Your Life”.

And this brings us back to a very poignant question, “Am I an example or a warning?”

5,000 Lane 8 Business Cards in Finland

Lane 8 business cards have a unique beginning.

Do you have interesting stories about important moments in your life?

If so, then you realize that if we don’t find a way to capture that moment, it will disappear and be forever lost.

Great companies do this. Great Countries do this. Great religions do this. Holidays, milestones, traditions.

Three days before flying to Helsinki, Finland, it dawned on me that there were going to be 5,300 athletes from 80 countries and untold spectators. I needed business cards. Lots of business cards.

“Okay, you don’t have much time”, I said in a panic.  “But you do have an enormous opportunity.”

I cut out a handful of business card size pieces of card stock (my wife always has stuff like this on hand).

In only three tries, I had what I wanted.

My wife commented that even the edges I had drawn weren’t straight.  ”Perfect“, I said.

Two days before the leaving the United States, I asked Kinkos/FedEx how much for 1,000 or 3,000 cards.  And then I said, “How much for 5,000?”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Lane 8, Finland, 2009

Lane 8

Because we see it every time we visit Lane 8, we don’t see it any more.

The tag line.

Huh?

The tag line beneath the title, Lane 8, at the very top (header) of this page”

“If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough.”

As soon as I start taking the most important things for granted, I lose. Are ya with me?