Finishing Strong...

My pedometer...sadly!

Recently, my school system joined in the Virgin Healthmiles program. Funny how when I started my own journey to better health and fitness, my workplace started encouraging and rewarding that in its employees!  Think Someone was trying to tell me something?!?!

To say that some of us (uh...me!) have become a little obsessed with the number of steps on our pedometers would be a slight understatement! We can challenge each other as individuals or as teams to  some friendly competitions.  I've participated in 3 so far.  I won 1 of them...and lost the other 2!

I'm so incredibly competitive that it's almost a very negative thing for me. It's really something I have to pay very close attention to in myself, because I get too caught up in it sometimes. I've learned how to lose gracefully over the years...because I've had a lot of practice at it...but I still think losing stinks!  In the latest competition, over 1500 employees participated.  We were placed on teams randomly and the 28-day challenge was for the highest average steps per team. 
My team finished 201st out of 239 teams.  But they also kept individual stats.  Out of 1530 people, I finished 842nd.  A mid-pack finish, which may have satisfied me...except for one thing.

I didn't finish strong.

You see, I forgot my own mantra...Better Every Day.  I did that for so much of this competition.  Just a few more steps than the day before...that's what I'd shoot for.  Even when I had the arthritis flare up a week or so ago, I didn't have many steps to add for my team or my individual stats, but I still tried to make sure I had a few more than the previous day.  But then I gave up, and I'm still not sure why.

I believe it's important to finish strong...to work hard all the way up to and through your goals.  The journey may be long and difficult, but knowing that you're working your way to a goal can really motivate you to push yourself until you get there.  Only this time, I stopped pushing a few days short of the finish line.

Like I said in a previous post...not all of my steps are forward, unfortunately.  But I do learn from them all.  And I don't like the feeling I have right now, knowing that I didn't give it my all.  I don't like it one little bit!  You can bet that next time I'm involved in a challenge with this silly pedometer, I'm going to do my part...and then some!