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What was the spark that fueled my transformation from a sedentary housewife to a 25-mile-a-week runner? A website on a Wheaties box

Well, I was grocery shopping for the family, doing my best to choose healthy foods for my growing kids, when I saw a box of Wheaties which included a free pedometer and a link to the Presidents Challenge website.

Remember the President's Physical Fitness awards from grade school? Oh, I wanted one of those so badly! I came close a few times, but I could never hang on to the pull-up bar long enough.

Well, the Presidents Challenge is a new program from the President's Council on Physical Fitness, but this program is open to anyone, from kids to parents to senior adults. Participants register online for a free account and choose which of several different fitness programs to complete.

I always follow the advice of the King of Hearts and begin at the beginning, so I started with the simplest and least demanding program: The President's Active Lifestyle Award. It was simple to log not only my exercise, but also other physical activities which count towards the goal of an active lifestyle: everything from time spent gardening to time spent washing dishes by hand.

While the program is free, the website offers incentives and awards for purchase. When I completed the Active Lifestyle Program in 2004, I purchased a t-shirt.

Then I moved on to the Presidential Champions program, progressing through Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. Incentives and prizes are available for each level -- everything from clothing and bumper stickers to planners and pedometers.

The website does a great job of graphically representing your progress, and each completed award level "counts" towards the points needed to move to the next level. This makes sense, because an active lifestyle is all about laying a foundation and building on it.

To create your own free account and begin logging your activities, visit the website: Presidents Challenge.

The great thing about this website is that our whole family got involved in and excited about exercise. Of course, fitness is its own reward, but every once in a while it's nice to say, "I am a Presidential Champion."