Inspiration from Losers

What an evening!!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that there are only 2 television shows that I will absolutely go out of my way to watch. Two. That's it.

One is "Parenthood" - and since that just started up again this week, I am happy.

The other one...probably my all-time favorite....is "The Biggest Loser". I haven't watched it from the beginning, but I've watched probably the last 5-6 seasons - and I love it. I love the contestants (most of them anyway) and I love to watch how they learn to take control of their lives and turn themselves around and become healthy.

I have to admit, some of those contestants have been huge inspirations to me. HUGE.

So when I saw the opportunity to meet a couple of them, I jumped at it! Ken and Austin Andrews are a father and son duo from Pasadena, CA and they were in Wichita. They did a speaking engagement last night (which I couldn't go to because of volleyball), but tonight they were having an open workout type thing at one of the Ys in Wichita. So after Alex's father picked him up, the other 4 kids and I headed into the city.

We were actually the first ones there, and when Austin walked in, he came over and visited with us. He was a great guy to talk to and didn't make me feel nervous or anything. We talked about the kids, who were running around like maniacs in the gym, and I told him about my hip replacement and the races that I've done since then. Other people started to arrive, and then Austin and Ken spoke.

They talked about the importance of family on different levels, but especially about how parents need to reinforce healthy habits for kids. If the kids see their parents being healthy, they will imitate that - but on the flip side, if the parent sits around on the computer all of the time, the kids will start to mimic that as well.

The next thing I knew, Austin came over to where we were sitting and asked Emily to stand up.

He asked her how she felt about me running in all of those races after I had my surgery and she looked over at me and told him that she was proud of me. I couldn't help it - I had tears running down my face (and I might have some tears now).

I never really thought about it before. I was doing the races for me, to prove something to myself, but I never really realized that it would have a positive impact on my kids. Sure, the girls and I have done some races together, but for whatever reason...it just didn't hit me.

Then, there was the workout. It was led by this skinny little thing who was apparently hired to torture poor unsuspecting fools like myself. You know, the ones who were stupid enough to wear long sleeves and sweatpants instead of shorts and a tank top because it was just a tiny bit chilly outside. Idiot.

And of course, the dorky star-struck fan photo op:

Yeah, we had all just worked out. I worked out in the same group with Ken and Austin Andrews.

How cool is that?

I think I might have missed a couple...