We enjoyed a nice little trek along the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park last weekend (Sunday, 10 October 2010). It’s another one of those “must-see” things to put on your list!

While the scenery in general and the overlooking views are spectacular, I have to say that one of the most interesting things we happened to see was the map  at one of the rest stops that showed Stonewall Jackson’s various battles in the Shenandoah Valley: talk about a lot of marching!

We also stopped to take a walk down the Dark Hollow Falls trail. Like the rest of the Blue Ridge Mountain area, it was beautiful. But as we were going down the trail, it struck me just how much so many people were struggling. Yes, it’s fairly steep, if not very long – about 2 miles round trip.

But you’d think some of these folks were halfway through the Bataan Death March…on the way down. It was sort of shocking: Jan and I were just toodling down the trail, even with my right leg still causing me some problems (shinsplints, probably made worse by the car accident we were in a couple weeks ago), passing people by right and left. We weren’t in a race, obviously, but the farther we went, the more it struck me how two people who are closing in on fifty (or just departing forty-five?) were doing so much better than almost everyone, including people who were thirty or more years younger.

Once we got down to the bottom of the falls, we stopped for a few minutes to have some water and enjoy the view, then we started back up the same way we’d come, heading back toward the visitor center. We were moving at a pace that got our heart rates up a bit (mine moreso than Jan’s, because I haven’t done much exercise since the car accident), but not all that much compared to a good cardio workout. Yet we were overtaking people who had been on their way up when we were going down!

One of the most telling things was when we passed a father who was probably at least five years (if not more) younger than me, explaining to his young boy what “health” meant, as he puffed and struggled up the trail. He tried to put it simply, saying that “Health was the opposite of being sick.” I wanted to tell him no, it’s much more than that: you can be “not sick” and yet still not be healthy, and he was living proof. There were so many people who were trying to get out to see some of the outdoors and spend time with their families, but who were clearly having a miserable time because their bodies were so terribly out of shape.

If that sounds like you, I just wanted to let you know that you don’t have to feel that way, or let physical exertion (or your cholesterol, blood pressure, type II diabetes, etc.) get the best of you. You don’t have to transform yourself into a star athlete, but you also don’t have to endure the frustration of not being able to keep up with your kids, or be miserable any time you have to do something requiring physical effort: exercise and healthy eating can and will work if you do a few simple things every day.

For us success came through Beachbody exercise programs and Shakeology. My wife Jan and I are living proof, and living is the key word. I want to be around for a long time for Jan and our boys, and doing a few simple things every day – exercising and eating well – will help keep me truly healthy for many years to come.

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