What is it about running?

I started running on January 6^th of this year. I had actually decided to run in November and started working with a coach towards that goal in December. I couldn’t run right away because I had some pain in my leg (as I write this I can’t even remember where the pain was), but I went to an osteopath and she gave me the OK to start running a bit in January.

Did I think I could run? Not really. Was I scared to do it? Hell yeah! The first time I ran one whole minute on the treadmill I felt like crying and kept thinking I couldn’t do it. And when I did, I was VERY surprised to find out that I hadn’t fallen or that I hadn’t broken the treadmill! Really!!!

I have now been running for almost 8 months. I ran an hour and a half this morning. I ran four 5ks this summer and I’m planning to run a 10k in September. Originally, my goal was to run my first 5k in September. Little did I know that my coach had other plans for me. Thanks to her, I have spent the last 9 months constantly surprising myself. Take a look at her blog: http://www.trimommylife.com/. She’s awesome!

So, what is it about running that keeps me going?

·  I love the feeling of getting a big breath of fresh air at the beginning of my day

·  It makes me feel like I’m achieving something special (not that many people run)

·  It gives me energy to begin my day

·  It allows me to see that I keep improving when I compare my results from one day to the next, from one race to the next

·  It makes me feel strong

·  I can do it!

·  It allows me to lose weight much faster

·  It makes me believe that I can try anything I want. If I could run this much when I never thought I could, what else could I do that I never thought I could?

If you are running, what is it that keeps you running? If you’re not running, I highly encourage you to give it a try. Don’t start too big though and do get a coach if possible. Even though running is something that we naturally know how to do, there are things you should avoid if you don’t want to hurt yourself! If you’re thinking “she’s crazy, there’s no way I can run”, all I can tell you is I’ve been there. A friend of mine once told me “anybody can tri” (meaning do a triathlon) and my response was “this isn’t just a little fat you know!”, but she maintained her position and said that some people walk during a triathlon (some triathlons anyways). All the while, I was thinking “if I ever do a tri, I won’t be doing it walking!” and that’s what made me want to run...eventually! So there we go, I am now a runner and I plan to be one as long as possible! You want to join me for a race?

Missing the point!

Alright! People seem to be missing the point here! Clearly, I did not communicate what I meant to communicate on my latest post. I've had three people write me messages telling me how beautiful I am in response to my post. I appreciate it, but I just wanna say that I was not fishing for compliments. Now, this may be presumptuous of me, but I KNOW that I'm beautiful! Even, when I was fatter I thought I was cute, so that's really not the point. The point was that sometimes we won't take the time to get to know someone better because they don't look that good on the surface or because they look different from us, but that if you do take the time, I bet you'll find that's it was really worth it. It was not about all the beautiful compliments that I got lately, I love those and I keep those. It was not about getting more, although it's always nice to hear, the point was just that : do not let your perceptions stop you from getting to know someone better and do tell people what you appreciate from them...whether it is physical, emotional, intellectual, social, or whatever... because it's always nice to hear what people like about you! And I am talking about people in general...not me specifically :)