My Journey With Weight Health And Fitness – Why Mentoring Is So Important

I was having a conversation one day about how rats along the promenade freak me out. This time of year in particular they are in abundance but I should note I have not seen that albino rat again (and I really would like to see it). The person I was chatting with said no, it’s the bunnies that scare me. Seriously, those really small, adorable, wild bunnies. Yes she said because I keep thinking about the killer bunnies (if you don’t get her reference you need to watch more Monty Python). So the other day I am out on my run and I see a seagull on the railway tracks. Up comes one of the wild bunnies who starts chasing the seagull. That seagull was running in terror of that tiny bunny. Just made me think of ‘run away’ again from Monty Python.

So my husband said I should talk a little bit more about the mentoring that I do. Seriously, I struggle to think of myself as a mentor but rather to me it is just helping someone develop the skills that I have. I admit this actually started in 2015 when a former co-worker was retiring and asked me to mentor her replacement. The problem was I didn’t like her replacement but to honor our friendship I said I would do it. Turns out I got a lot out of mentoring that young woman and we ended up becoming the best of friends. I guess that was the start of things to come.

A few posts ago I talked about a friend who I have been mentoring on her journey with getting fit. This week marks week 5 of my friend running 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). She has done awesome and texts me after each run. She started out working on doing a 5k and each time she would reduce the number of times she had to stop and walk a bit during the run (she has done some running before). Now, she is looking at increasing her distance on her runs (though I do encourage her to do increases slowly). My role, according to her, is to keep her accountable to her goals. I disagree, my role is to give her the encouragement she needs to just keep going. I know how hard this can be and I was so lucky to have a coach that never criticized, encouraged me at every goal and challenged me to do even more. That is what I want to do for my friend.

Last week my friend had had a tough week and by Friday was tired and just didn’t want to do her run. However, she sucked it up and did it anyways. I was jumping for joy at the fact that like me she threw away the excuses and just kept going. As I said to her, the best feeling is when you finish a run that you really didn’t want to do because you muted those voices in your head giving you the excuses.

Why do I do this, because like my volunteer work it really makes me feel good. The fact that I now have the opportunity to pay it forward is pretty amazing to me. I joke with my friend that maybe next year she too will be doing a 1/2 marathon however, I also let her know it is ok if she doesn’t. I also keep telling her, it is just one step at a time.