There are days when I wake up and remember what it was like to get out of bed, get a cup of coffee and sit peacefully at my dining room table while the sun peeked through the blinds and warmed my face. After the caffeine had worked its magic, I would lace up my shoes for an early morning run. Life was easy, and running was a breeze because my life was all about me.

At no time in my life have I ever been referred to as an athlete. But one year ago—at the age of 37—I started to run. Over the course of a couple months I ran three times a week, culminating in my first 5K race last summer, and my second 5K a month after that. So what drives me to run? Not much, unfortunately. My motivation quickly slipped away as summer gave way to fall, and now I find myself really wishing I enjoyed running.

Some time ago an older friend advised me to look for opportunities in relationships to be mentored and to mentor others in return. This advice has proved valuable in my life journey. In my early 30s, several years of undisciplined eating and reduced exercise began to take their toll on my health. My weight crept over the 240-pound mark, and at 6’2” my Body Mass Index (BMI) score exceeded 30.0, the threshold for obesity. As a Health Actuary, the numbers should have motivated me to take action. However, it wasn’t until I went hiking with a friend that I realized I was struggling just to keep up. The irony was that my friend was talking and smoking the entire time. Something needed to change.

My husband and I joke (call it dark humor) that one of us gets to sleep and the other one gets exercise. He works nights, so I’m the sleeper and he maintains his energy by biking everywhere and swimming an hour and a half most days. Over the years, our habits have created a discrepancy that becomes quite evident on family bike rides, as you can imagine.

My name is Sharon and I work at LifeWise. I’ve been married to my husband for over 30 years, am the mother of two young adults, Sophia (25) and Zach (21), and have lived all my life in the awesome outdoor wonderland of Portland, Oregon. I enjoy participating in endurance sports—cycling, running, hiking, alpine climbing and downhill and XC skiing —and like to think of myself as an athlete.