I was not always athletic. Seriously, I probably only started fitness in 2017. So only four years ago, when I was 23! But I am not here to record all my accomplishments in fitness but that it's not too late for you to start your fitness journey. I've listened to countless podcasts and inspiring stories of athletes who started up when they were children, getting into soccer leagues and becoming track stars at like 7 years old or younger!
My childhood wasn't like that and I never even learned how to swim or how to ride a bike like every other kid out there. I didn't go outside much or even at all. My going outside was at recess in school. I was always smaller so why did it matter? I could finish the mile run at school but I didn't finish last so why did it matter? It felt like I didn't have to worry about anything because I was still small enough and I grew up with the mindset that being small automatically just made you healthy or what everyone else desired.
When I got into middle school, P.E. class got harder. Now we were playing sports and I was so bad at them. I was scared of the ball hitting me. I didn't have the coordination to kick a ball. Everyone was so much faster and stronger and now I was finishing the mile last and I was scoring pretty poorly on whatever standardized sports measure they did. I did P.E. the first year of middle school and I knew I had to do whatever I had to to skip it the following years so I took two year long elective classes just so I can skip P.E. but when I entered High School, I really couldn't hide from P.E. anymore. I was not flexible, I was not fast, and I was picked last for whatever sport we were learning. I didn't have many friends and the friends I did have were not in my same P.E. class. It was hard and it was my least favorite class. I pushed through because it was just high school, we were all going to leave and no one was going to remember me, me who made my volleyball team lose like 3 times because I didn't know how to volley the ball? I remember a few times, I begged my P.E. teacher to just let me walk the track because I absolutely couldn't deal with how ruthless these classmates were. So aggressive and only had to win!
At some point in high school, I started dating a guy, Jay, who is so adventurous! I mean he and his family travelled a ton when he was growing up and they do so much fun stuff like hiking, skiing, and seeing places! I really couldn't imagine anything outside of the small town I was living in. I only really knew all that was there. He was like opposite of me meaning I only knew life in this small town and he knew the world. It was so cool and so fascinating and I liked him! I wanted him to like me so when he asked me if I liked hiking, I was like yeah! I didn't do any hiking ever so I had no idea what I was getting into. First hike we did was Ape Caves in Mt Saint Helens area. We legit probably hiked like a couple hundred feet into a view area and I was like, "okay, time to turn back?" And he was like, "what? We have like a few miles still!" I was just thinking, people do this? We finished it and it was so fun and the most adventurous thing I had ever done and I wanted to do more.
After we graduated, turns out him and his family were going to move back to North Carolina. They had only moved to Washington for the last two years of high school because his mom had gotten a job here in Washington. I was so sad but they gave me the opportunity to road trip from Washington to North Carolina with them. With this trip, we saw a ton of places and did a ton of adventuring. I was the most memorable thing ever because I had never done anything like it. My family stays inside our little apartment home in our little small town.
When I returned back home to Washington that summer, my family had adopted a small senior doggie Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso mix dog. After I had came back from that road trip, I was craving wanting to see more. I wanted to do more! I wanted to go outside! With Tina, our dog, and I, we would go outside and hit the trails and parks. She was an adventure doggie and liked to climb rocks and run around. Seeing this life in her eyes sparked my heart. But she was a senior, and she only had a few small years left in her. Close to the end of her time, she would run home. Like we would be on our walk and at some point, she would just turn around and start trying to run towards home. We go on this route all the time through the park by our home and it was a route that was ingrained in her memory so easily. I never ran but since she ran, I tried to run with her home. It was fun running with her. It felt like we were a team. It felt good like I felt like I was actually doing something.
Only a little bit after that, she had passed away from old age and doggie dementia. I was distraught. I was having nightmares. I didn't know what to do. I was angry, I felt like I didn't do enough for her in her time with us/me. I wanted to do more. I thought, what if I just continued running? She was running, what if I ran and it was like she was running with me? So I would walk the route that Tina and I would walk and then I would run at her turnaround point when she started running. Then, I was running more and more. I felt like Tina was running with me. I did my first trail run in memory of her but that didn't stop. I wanted to do more running. I wanted to run in places where it was like Tina was there with me on those races. I continued to run more and in new places like she was seeing these places and running these runs with me.
At some point on a summer trip when Jay came back to Washington to visit, he suggested we do a hike together. Mount Si. It was hard and tough. I thought, I run so I'm athletic right? Actually, wrong because running muscles don't equal hiking muscles. It was a tough hike but we did it and then I thought, okay, if I want to keep doing hikes like this with Jay, I need to get stronger?! Fitness felt like a scam but I wanted to be as "fit" as I could to do these things!
When I finally moved out of my family's home in 2018 to Seattle, my whole life changed and I wanted to do everything. My entire life changed because now I could go out, I can do whatever, I can do anything I wanted without my family telling me no! I started trying new things and I signed up for a membership at a fitness studio that was close by me. I did Yoga and tried doing some group workouts. It was so hard but I felt so good - the endorphins running through me and the sweat pouring out of me. I was just thinking that I would be ready for whatever next adventure Jay invites me on. I was thinking since living in the city, if anyone tried to pull a fast one, I would be ready. I was thinking that if Tina was still here, she would be so happy at how strong and how far my legs would run for her. I also loved this fitness and these workouts because no one was berating me at how bad I was doing like in high school P.E.. Everyone was cheering and supporting and motivating and pushing me to continue and do more! I felt so good and so strong that I didn't stop fitness.
Fitness started to grow into my lifestyle. I was just moving. Whatever it was to make me stronger, make me move, make me sweat. I love it and I also love all the other people I have met from the fitness community. This just became my passion and I'm only still starting fitness.
Fitness can happen at any point and you don't have to have a full childhood of sports to be able to adapt fitness. Be willing to learn and to grow and to create goals and you are already halfway there. 
(Picture: My first 5k race ever. 2017. Bellevue WA months after Tina passed away. Photo taken by my friend Joseph)