Mid-2008, we made the decision to make 2 major changes in our family life:

Dine:  Know what we're eating

Dash:  Exercise consistently

We needed motivation for both of these major changes.  For the exercise, we would work out separately nearly everyday.  Motivation:  We'd sign up for a 5K each month.  For the eating part, we decided to cook every night, as much from scratch as we could.  Motivation:  We'd eat out every Saturday night.

Current:

We've run a 5K every month since June 2008.  The first few races, my husband ran and I pushed our son, in the stroller.  As the months progressed, our son began running the last mile (age 3), then the last two miles (age 4), until June 2010 (age 5), when he ran his first full 5K.  Our races have taken us all over Texas,  to Louisiana, California, and Florida, so far.

We have streamlined our cooking each night and cook most of our food on the weekend and reheat during the week (this has been a process of much planning and learning what works and doesn't).  We eat out mostly on Saturday nights, mostly a different place every time.

I developed a system for planning meals out approximately 4 to 6 months at a time.  I taught that system to PTA, to work groups, and to bible study groups.  When I read that Hays CISD has the 12th highest incidence of childhood obesity in the state, I started Fitness Club on Wednesday nights for families and individuals.

August 2013 marked our 100th race.  Some months we run more than one because we just can’t pick which one to go to.  We have developed an expertise in what works well and what doesn’t in race management.  That knowledge fueled me to begin directing races.

In 2014, I will direct or co-direct 6 races.

The point of all of this – my drive – is that you don’t have to be a honed athlete to find ways to incorporate activities each day.  Adding activities and improving how and what you eat means you will be healthier and my community will thrive.