“Just keep pedaling.” It’s a good motto for life, a way to describe perseverance in the face of a challenging obstacle, and a reminder to keep the forward momentum even when exhaustion settles in, whether physical or emotional. It’s also the name of my personal biking blog, (https://just-keep-pedaling.blogspot.com/), and it’s how I attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle. My husband and I have enjoyed cycling for almost 10 years now while combining this hobby with our desire to travel to new places. We have made it our goal to ride in all 50 states and document our adventures in our blog. To date, we are more than halfway to our goal, having knocked out rides in 31 states. We have cycled seaside in Cape Cod, California, Georgia, Florida, and Washington; through the dry deserts of Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico; across the Midwestern prairies of Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota; and in the altitude of the Front Range of Colorado and the mountains of Montana. You experience so much more from the seat of a bike than through the windshield of a car. When we entered our fifth decade of life, we also made it a goal to celebrate our birthdays each year by “riding our age.” That has been challenging but inspiring, and conquering the challenge brings us a sense of self-satisfaction. Motion is lotion, and staying active is one key to easing the aging process and experiencing hopefully fewer aches and pains. A healthy diet is another important factor in health and wellness and I begin my day, 5 or 6 days out of the week, with a breakfast smoothie packed with a variety of superfoods, including spinach, antioxidant-rich blueberries and acai berries, coconut milk, Green yogurt, ground flax seed and chia seeds. As full disclosure, my hope is that this somewhat balances out the fact that I don’t enjoy cooking and food preparation, and therefore tend to lapse into quick convenience foods for the evening meal, though I do try to pack a healthy lunch to take to work that incorporates both raw vegetables and fruit. I don’t feel I’m completely hitting the bullseye regarding my diet choices, but I hope I’m at least somewhere on target. In summary, discovering an enjoyable physical activity is imperative to the success of sustaining an active lifestyle. Find something that gets you excited to want to get up, get out, and go do. For us, we just keep pedaling! Thank you for the opportunity to apply for this generous scholarship!