YAY! I did it! My 58 Day Challenge has come to a close. As a reminder, I started my journey following in the footsteps of fellow coach and dear friend Randy Lane and his 50-mile run for his 50th birthday. Inspired by Randy, I challenged myself to do some sort of exercise each of the 58 days leading up to my 58th birthday.

It has been a huge challenge and more often than not, loads of fun. This is some of what I’ve learned:

First, doing this challenge publicly provided a level of accountability.

Receiving your kind words of support was a delight and a terrific shot of motivation… even when I shared my struggles.

I’m not a fitness guru, but this challenge helped me find the fun in exercise. Doing the work and being consistent was more important than doing extra reps or increasing the weight lifted or other classic, arbitrary goals. I knew if I made the effort it would be accomplished. The sole ambition of making this a part of my daily lifestyle removed a lot of the stress and allowed me to be creative and embrace the journey. And what a journey it has been…

Throughout my 58 days I have made multiple trips across the country and spent more than a few nights in hotel beds. It would have been easy to find an excuse for not exercising, but the simple goal of “Just Do Something” made it just as easy to find a fun and creative solution to exercise.

I have done ballet on a balcony and danced with a star. I have jogged along the coastline and walked through my neighborhood. I have lifted weights at home and done circuit training in the park. I have spent more than a few hours in my makeshift home gym and many, many more hours in the pilates studio. And when a friend would come over, I included them in the fun (sometimes whining and complaining, but we always had fun 😉

There were many days I was swamped with work, coaching, meetings, choreography. One big lesson I learned was “Just take the first step,” which was often “Put on Workout clothes.” From there it was easy to take the next step toward whatever my workout was that day.

My favorite part of this challenge was my friends. Over the past eight-plus weeks I got healthier; and I did it laughing rather than grunting. I introduced others to dance and pilates and I accepted the challenge to do my very first handstand! I have been so tickled by how others have embraced my challenge and started their own exercise commitment in response—just as I did in response to Randy’s initial challenge.

Since this challenge is complete I won’t post my daily exercise adventures, but know that I will continue with this healthy lifestyle (ok, so maybe you’ll see a random exercise post here or there, especially with the Amazing Marco and our next salsa lesson). I didn’t know what to expect when I started but I knew this would be fun because as I’ve said in the past, there is no failure in an Adventure. I want to thank you for going along on this journey with me and I’m sure I’ll have more challenges coming up (and please share yours)… stay tuned!