A Daughter’s Perspective

(This week’s Commit to be Fit column was written by Savannah McGinnis, Suzanne McGinnis’ daughter. Savannah is a junior at Piedmont Academy.)

Growing up with a “fitness freak” I was constantly harassed about staying in shape.

Starting with the deer dash one-mile fun run I began my slow and quite unsteady running career. My love to constantly eat delicious gourmet food did not have a positive contribution to staying in shape.

My mom always says “everything in proportion” with a smile on her face and only one cup of each food group on her plate.

I guess I just thought it was easy for her, and that maybe as I grow older I’ll learn to have more will power. I waited and waited but the will power never came, so I got a pair of cute running shoes and went when I felt like it.

After seeing my brother run the Deer Dash 5k I pushed myself, although mostly out of sibling rivalry, to participate in the next year’s race. But as a new runner I thought that I could wait until one week before to start “training.”

My first race time was not as satisfactory as I had planned, but it did help me set a goal. When I convinced my friends to run with me we thought we could motivate each other to run more often.

Failing to start our Girls- only running club we rarely ran, but would keep our times from the previous year in the back of our mind.

In order to make something you do a habit studies show that it must be done for 21 days in a row.

I joined the cross country team and from August to October we ran for three days a week.

I’m not sure how many miles or times we ran but it became a habit to run and now it’s my passion.

My Deer Dash 5k time improved by four minutes and I plan on steadily improving my time.

To commit to be fit you must first respect yourself and be patient; 21 days is just the start.