Bench Warmer or On the Field?

In the walking DVD I did yesterday Leslie Sansone said something along the lines of, "I'm an athlete - I'm a mother of 3!!" I laughed and agreed, but then I thought more on it and remembered how Diane at Fit to the Finish has said as an overweight mom she spent more time on the couch than doing things with her kids. I was the same way. "No,not right now.. I'm too tired. etc. etc." Or I would do things with them and it would wipe me out for the rest of the day, thus making me not really want to finish any other responsibilities I had to do that day.

So, my thoughts while I kept walking turned to are we mothers (or fathers) parental athletes that sit on the bench the entire game of life or that get involved on the field and gives our best? While I do think we all need to have time on the bench to refresh and regroup I think we know that we need not look at the bench as where we belong on the team for the entire game.

I used to be a bench warmer, but now I'm working on being a more fit, energetic "on-the-field" mommy athlete! What about you?