Ready To Build Your Fire?

Lots of Fuel, Arranged Just Right
Lots of Fuel, Arranged Just Right

Most people have had so little experience in the wilderness, that making a campfire is foreign to them. And making a campfire is more involved than it seems.

As a Boy Scout and then again in Outward Bound, we were taught to prepare the wood as if we only had only one match left. If you didn’t prepare properly, and the one match you had went out…

Just throw it in the microwave. Or, order delivery. Or maybe, stop by on the way home for take-out.

Well, it’s like that for our health too.

It may not seem so, but most really don’t have much experience being successful in building healthy habits.

Hey, I’m not making this up.  Look around.  There’s your validation.

It’s epidemic. And we have the opportunity to resolve to be part of the minority – the healthy minority.

And if we can get enough of the minority to change, we can start a movement to become the healthy majority.

Who doesn’t want that for their children, their nieces and nephews?

Lane 8 Happy New Year

Motivation Is Like A Fire
Motivation Is Like A Fire

Wow, another year come and gone.

It can be so challenging to get healthy, so challenging to stay healthy.

I often wonder if I’ll ever end up a hypocrite, a phony.

Living in Central Florida now for 26 years, it’s this time of year when we actually use our fireplace. And being on vacation the past ten days, we’ve been having a fire nightly. Sometimes we even start the fire in the morning.

And this thought just entered my mind while typing this blog post:

Motivation is like a fire. You must continue adding fuel to it to keep it burning.

Otherwise, it will go out.  A “no brainer” as they say.

Masters Track?

Masters Track
Masters Track

Yes, Masters Track.

What do you do to stay motivated to reach and maintain your health goals?

Master’s athletes are defined as people over 30 years old.

There are other sports that have Masters competitions too.  The thought of trying something completely out of my comfort zone actually seems possible – at a future time, of course.

Why?

Because the whole point of the competition, to me, is simply to find ways to stay motivated.  When things get boring, I get less motivated.

This is a deadly place to be, literally.

Someday. maybe swimming.  Or perhaps I’ll try Filed events, like the Discus, Shot Put, or, heaven forbid, the Pole Vault.

Whatever it takes.  That’s one of the secrets to staying healthier.  I figure everybody knows this, but it never hurts to say important things over and over.

Does it?

The Obvious is Invisible

Lane 8
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?

Lane 8 Motivational Flashback

Last weekend, I met with a great friend I’ve known for over a decade. He’s really smart and asks the best questions. Plus, he’s a great listener.

Long story short:  While I was sharing the story on my 1982 cross-country bicycle trip, he came to a realization, and so did I.

When I said cross-country, the original intent was from one coast to the other. But for a variety of good reasons, it didn’t happen the way it was envisioned.

And for a moment, it started to feel like maybe I was misrepresenting the truth, and I questioned myself.

In summary, Derrick Redmond, an Olympic 400 meter runner, may tell people he ran in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but that may not be the “truth”.  You owe it to yourself to watch this, and then ask and answer the question that follows:

So, did Derrick Redmond run in the Olympics?