When it comes to fitness, Michelle Lee is a living contradiction. Her passion is soccer — a sport that depends on your ability to run — but she hates to run.

"Running bores me to tears unless I am chasing a ball or someone is chasing me," she said. "So I need to figure out things to keep me fit on the field other than running."

Lee has a simple solution, though, and it explains much about her approach to staying in shape.

"I am not going to work out unless it's fun," she said.

The 38-year-old marketing director from Kaimuki motivates herself with variety. Surfing, tennis and hiking the steep, abandoned tramway to the 1,206-foot summit of Koko Crater. In April she decided even that wasn't enough, so she started lifting weights with a personal trainer at the Honolulu Club.

"As I get older, I realize how important it is to keep my body strong," she said. "For the most part, all those things combined help me through a soccer game."

Lee played in AYSO leagues growing up in Kailua but left the game to become a cheerleader in high school. In her 20s, she rediscovered her passion for "the beautiful game."

Depending on the season, Lee will play either a weekly indoor game or outdoor game in an Islandwide women's league for players older than 30.

She and her Koolau teammates joke that it's "gnarly old lady soccer." They say it is fun and a bit irreverent — Koolau's uniform includes tie-dyed jerseys.

"Everyone thinks we are pansies," Lee said. "But in our division, we are more out there to enjoy and have fun."

The team is a diverse group: doctors, lawyers and harried mothers who work out a week's worth of stress during two 45-minute halves of a soccer match.

They're very competitive. Lee has been injured enough to prove that. She's twisted ankles and strained hamstrings. And it's not gnarly soccer for nothing: She's seen opponents start fist fights.

None of it would keep her from playing, though.

"I love the team camaraderie," Lee said. "I like that in soccer you can't have a one-man team. It is a team together. Everything I do in life is team-oriented."

Lee will make some kind of fitness activity a part of every day except one, she said.

"My Fridays are saved for cocktails, for lifting from the table to my mouth," she said. "For me it's all about balance."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.