This past Sunday—and all season, really—I couldn’t help but be blown away by the Giants dramatic comeback to play in and eventually win the Super Bowl.

As a wife and mother of die-hard Giants fans, it’s been hard if not impossible to ignore my boys' screams of agony and ecstasy during countless games. Despite being a native New Yorker, it took me until about four years ago to become a true fan of any New York sports team (after attending two games, I chose the Yankees). Like many fans, I stay up late to watch games and read about them afterward to learn more about baseball and the players. I also experience the emotional ups and downs (I was at the 2009 game during which the Yankees won the World Series, and attended that last painful playoff game in 2011). It was never my intent to pay much attention to or really care about another team. But then I did.

Tucked under the covers in bed, I began to turn on Giants games as my husband and sons watched in the living room. Always loving a comeback, I became especially interested when, after losing four straight games, the Giants had to beat both the Jets and the Cowboys to make it to the playoffs. In what seemed like a slowly unfolding miracle, the Giants rose to the challenge and won both games along with the next four to become the unlikely Super Bowl XLVI Champions.

In an English class assignment written just prior to Super Bowl Sunday, my older son Spencer wrote “The Giants built strong momentum and fought as a team and never gave up…no one can stop the Giants.”

Although Giants quarterback Eli Manning was named MVP, he wasn’t the only one responsible for the win. In a Reuters article, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said, "We're certainly cognizant of some of the superior individuals that we have on our team…but it’s the team that provides us with our strength, and our ability to perform under pressure, whether it is good or bad, and that's the way we think."

When asked what makes for a great team, Len Berman—best known for his Spanning the World segments on The Today Show and WNBC-TV— says, “All successful teams require big stars and little stars to pull together toward a common goal.” He adds, “No matter who you are, how tall you are, how much you weigh, and where you come from, anyone can be successful if they work hard, persevere and have a sense of purpose.”

For any team to be successful, there are countless behind-the-scenes players—the unsung heroes—who are instrumental. For the Giants, it's coaches, doctors, trainers, massage therapists and dietitians who keep the players healthy, and parents, wives, girlfriends, children and other family members, and friends and fans who cheer on and support players to give it their all.  

As I train for the More/Fitness Half Marathon, I think about my own winning team that supports, motivates, and encourages me every step of the way: my husband who cares for our children when I’m on my long weekend walks or when I have to sneak in a massage for my achy back, my local and out-of-town friends who train with me in person or by text or email, my Twitter and Facebook friends who share their #moveitorloseit goals and accomplishments with me, and friends who inspire me every day (many of whom I talked about in last week’s post What Motivates Me). I have no doubt that as long as my winning team is beside me or cheers me on from the sidelines, I’ll not only be successful in accomplishing my goals, but I’ll never walk alone.

What I completed in Week 6: January 30-February 5, 2012
Monday: 8-mile walk outside
Tuesday: 4-mile walk outside
Wednesday: 2.8-mile walk outside
Thursday: 4-mile walk outside
Friday: weight training (3 sets of 5 arm exercises, 200 crunches, 1 set lunges) Saturday: 5.2-mile walk outside
Sunday: weight training (2 sets of 5 arm exercises)