Walking the Walk

So there I was, two Christmases ago, sitting at my in-laws’ table at the Iowa farmhouse, reading the local newspaper after the dishes had been washed and put away. All of a sudden, I saw it.

Tucked in among the tractors for sale, current corn and soybean selling rates, rain predictions for that week, and pictures of the prize-winning farm animals, was a small blurb about the Iowa section of the American Discovery Trail, or the ADT—a complete walking/hiking/bicycling trail that runs east to west across the entire United States, from one coast to the other.

You know how every once in a while you get a crazy idea? And maybe sometimes, you drag others into that crazy idea with you? That was me, that Christmas evening. I decided then and there that I wanted to do a section of the ADT, and I wanted to do it with my oldest daughter.

You might be asking yourself why on earth I would want to do something like that.

Let me start from the beginning.

Some of my earliest memories of grandmother, who passed away in 2003, are of her telling me to stand up straight and suck in my stomach. To not wear that (whatever “that” might be) because it would make me look fat. To question whether or not I really wanted to eat that (again, whatever “that” might be) because it would go straight to my waistline. This is around age 7 or 8, y’all. And listen, the old woman couldn’t help that she weighed a whopping 106 pounds fully pregnant, with a long, lean body type that looked amazing in swimsuits. Her shape was just so different from that of me and my mother, we became a mystery to her that she needed to solve.

And she tried her best, one misguided remark at a time.

Fast forward through all of my junior high and high school years worrying about my weight, straight into college still worrying about the number on the scale, and then finally into the Army where I was taught a life changing lesson—skinny doesn’t mean strong, and strong is what I wanted to be.

I don’t want to fit into size 2 jeans. I want to be able to outrun a bear chasing me in the woods and do a pullup into a tree to get away from it.

I want to be able to wrestle a bank robber to the ground and put him in a chokehold while we wait for the cops to arrive.

I want to be able to reach into a burning, overturned schoolbus and pull children to safety using only one arm.

Basically, I want to be superhero.

OK, now fast forward to present time.

I’ve got three kiddos, to include two daughters that literally watch everything I do and hear every word I say about myself, good or bad. Knowing I’ve got that audience, and knowing the damage and devastation the wrong words and actions can cause, I realized that I have to make the choice every day to teach them healthy behaviors and attitudes. I want them to see me working out with my weight set a few times a week and getting on my treadmill for runs.

I want them to see me enjoy being outside on family hikes, and playing out in the yard with them.

I want them to see me plan out meals with lots of fresh ingredients, but I also want them to see me loving the good ol’ cheat days, where we have pizza for dinner followed by ice cream cones on the front porch before bedtime (OK, I might toss in a salad too, but you get what I mean).

Basically, I want them to see a healthy relationship with food and exercise. I want them to see me walking the walk, not just talking about being healthy and strong, not just telling them to love their bodies, not just telling them to be kind to themselves, but actually doing it myself so they can see I mean what I say and know how to take my own advice.

And for my oldest daughter and me, part of “walking the walk” was actually taking a very long walk together.

After getting my idea for the ADT hike, we started training immediately. Over the next six months, three to four times a week we would load up our packs and head out for hikes, slowly increasing the weight we were carrying and the miles we were doing. Our final plan was to hike around 90 miles of the ADT, spacing the days out so we could stay in a safe place every night. Thankfully, my mother-in-law knows people in practically every Iowa town, so even though I was carrying a tent and sleeping pad for us, we never needed to use it. Ha!

Each day was full of laughter, excellent conversation, goofy questions, stops at local haunts (who knew the best ice cream shop ever would be in Panora, Iowa?), and tons of photographs.

Every evening our amazing hosts would pick us up at the closest route the trail would cross through their town, we would get a home cooked dinner, sleep all cozy in a bed after a hot shower (at one house we even got a bubble jet bathtub… we were so spoiled), and get a fresh, hot breakfast the next morning before hopping back on the trail.

We wrote in our travel journals every night so we wouldn’t forget any details, and then when it was all done and we were home recovering from a million bug bites and crazy sunburns, we worked on a big scrapbook together. This experience was one that I’ll treasure forever, especially when my oldest is a teenager and is in the I-hate-my-mom stage. I’ll have proof that we got along once!

I know that doing this wild of an adventure isn’t for everyone, but I would love to encourage you all to find something meaningful to do together.

Let your kids see you set a goal and work for it, and bring them along with you so they get to experience it as well. Pretty soon they’re going to be out of your house and moving on with their lives, and you’ll no longer have the same influence that you have now

Use that influence to fill them with healthy behaviors and attitudes not just about food and exercise, but about life in general. It will be so worth it in the end!

Oh, and don’t forget to take pictures.