Caleb and me

The picture you see at the left is where Breakaway Sports Training is located, the place at which I work out. Lately I've come to prefer the Women's Fitness class as opposed to the Speed & Agility class I was going to, because I prefer working out with fellow women who share my physiological concerns and who are closer to my own age, as opposed to the S&A class which is mostly young boys training for athletic pursuits. However, it being spring, my Saturdays are going to be too busy to go to the Women's Fitness class at noon on Saturdays, so rather than scale down to a once a week workout, I will probably go to the Tuesday night Women's class and the Wednesday night S&A class. So I went last evening and there is one little boy with whom I have rather bonded, and his name is Caleb. He was so overjoyed to see me last night and came running up to me to greet me. I just love this kid to death because he's trying so hard. The problem is that he's 10 years old and already very overweight (152 pounds, he told me last night). I treat him with a lot of respect and compassion and I encourage him when we're working out together, and I think that's why he really likes me a lot, despite the 40 year age difference. He told me how much he'd missed me in recent weeks since I switched to the Women's classes and that really touched me a lot. So last night, we were paired together for what are called "partner runs", which are brutal to begin with, but we went outdoors in the evening chill to work in the concrete parking lot, and poor Caleb was really struggling with how out of shape he is. He confessed to me how hard it is to avoid the temptations of junk food and how he was promised some kind of really spiffy Playstation if he lost at least 20 pounds.

Caleb also told me that he's already pre-diabetic, and I told him that he did not want to go there and how important it is not to go into full blown diabetes that will plague him for the rest of his life unless he takes care of that now. He's been coming since February and already, I can see improvements in his fitness level. I was telling him last night that he's a real machine, a strong kid built like a linebacker. When it was his turn to lead in the partner runs, he gave me a real run for the money trying to pull behind him with the resistance band. He's also very strong but he totally sells himself short. I can tell his self esteem has taken a beating because of his weight, another reason that I feel such compassion for him. My heart just goes out to this kid who is trying so hard but gives up way too easily yet. He still needs a great deal of encouragement and I did everything I could last night to give him just that. What a great kid. I look forward to seeing what he becomes through this weight loss journey. If he can beat this demon now, early in his life, he can reclaim his health and stay that way forever. Let's hope this is a successful journey for him, because he deserves to get healthy now more than anything else he will do for the rest of his life.