A Free Lunch

There is an old saying that there is no such thing as a Free Lunch or a Free Puppy.  When I was a kid I wondered how that could be true, but when I became an adult and a father I found out.  When someone offers you a free lunch there is something they want from you.  And of course we all know that raising an animal is an ongoing expense, even if we do love doing it.

I wanted to use the free lunch saying as an example of pretty much the way life is.  There really isn't anything free.  But the true secret to happiness is having the rewards worth the price we pay.  There is also a couple of other old sayings that apply here also, "You get what you pay for"  and "You get out of something what you put into it.  All of these apply to virtually everything we do.  They go double for adult athletes.

When we buy cheap equipment to train with we have problems with it and can even injure ourselves.  Especially shoes.  A good pair of training shoes is the single most important piece of equipment we buy.  Going to a store that specializes in fitting athletes is a must to get at least that first pair and every couple of years it's good to get that expert opinion again.  As we get stronger and leaner our foot shape and our gait can change and a shoe that once worked fine isn't right for us any more.

Another old saying I like is "Sweat Equity", when we have a super race we are spending that sweat equity that we have been building up.  It's pretty hard to have a great race when you haven't paid your dues with the proper training.  I have helped people train for a half marathon and they will say when they finished that it was a breeze, because they put in the training.  I have personally done races that I hadn't been able to train for properly and they became a lesson in survival rather than the celebration of health and fitness that they should be.

If there is a secret to success as an adult recreational athlete it's buying into the entire package and paying what it costs:  Do the training, not as a chore but as a labor of love.  Don't take the easy route, put some hills in that equity bank.  Buy good shoes properly fitted to you and training gear that fits.  Most of all make health and fitness your lifestyle, you have to first want it then practice it.

Thanks for reading.