My experiences in this contest have been wonderful and inspired.  I am thankful for meeting several contestants in person and have been fortunate enough to follow the trials and tribulations (and sometimes perils) of everyone else through their blogs.  I thought it would be appropriate to devote one blog to describe how other contestants have impacted me.

I won't name names.  Well, maybe just a few.

Jason, it was nice talking to you at Cabanas.  And you did indeed follow through with taking that carry-out dessert to your daughter as you said you would.  I watched you pull out of the parking lot to ensure you didn't sample it in the car.  Between Cabanas and home, you were on your own...

Jessie, it was nice talking to you at the first weigh-in and running into you at the mall a couple of weeks later.  Thanks so much for the kind words about me in your blog.

Tim, aside from you breathing down my neck, I am inspired by your hard work.  A quote from one of your blogs, "Get out there and work" sticks in the back of my mind all the time while I am working out, because this whole thing does require work.  No doubt about that.  You have the additional burden of doing all of this despite some health issues, which is quite admirable.

Margaret, thanks for recommending MapMyWalk in one of your blogs.  I found a similar program MapMyRun at the same website.  I expect to use this to determine the distances of my workouts, once the weather cooperates.

Now on to everyone else.

The majority of the contestants are younger than me.  This means life gets in the way.  Work.  Kids.  Cooking.  Shopping.  Laundry.  Household chores.  Running around (and not in gym attire).  Perhaps elderly parents to take care of.  (Blame God since He was never thoughtful enough to give us parents that are younger than us.  Go figure.)  This is a tough nut to crack.  It made me overweight after 30 years of it.

To all of you who are in this category, you are already doing better than I ever did at that phase of my life.  Life ran me over and I just let it slowly happen.  Being sick and tired of being sick and tired is why I finally entered the contest.

Several contestants are older than me.  This means body parts don't work they way they used to, if they work at all.  Health problems can be your tough nut to crack.

To all of you who are in this category, I hope as I age I still have the drive and determination you showed when you entered this contest.  Thanks to some good genes (knock on wood) and some good choices I have made, like never smoking, I have avoided health problems.  So far, anyway.  But, like all human beings, I am just one doctor's visit away from bad news.  Hopefully, good fitness and a healthy diet will trump some of the lousy cards we get dealt in life.

Several contestants are related to other contestants.  It is great that you have that immediate, close support group.   Support is a good thing.  My dear girlfriend has been supportive of me throughout this contest with both diet or exercise.  She has worked her way up to swimming a mile every morning.  I could only do a mile in a boat, and a powerboat at that.

Many contestants oscillate between feeling good and feeling bad about themselves.  Eating right for a while, then falling to temptation.  Working out yesterday, then not being able to summon enough energy to go to the gym today.

To all of you in that category, remember, that is really all of US.  Keep your heads up and look forward to another (better) day.  And there will be better days.