The Joy of…
You run. You sweat. You pant like a dog.
And you don’t even feel like you worked.
But I remember the first time that girl-child running ceased to be enjoyable.
Junior High.
I had ten minutes to circle that track four times.
I was already obese by this point. I was used to it, but this was the first time I would really understand the limitations I had put upon myself.
Me and ten minutes just wasn’t gonna happen.
I didn’t even make it one lap before I stopped.
But do you know why?
It was because the moment I felt pain, I stopped. I didn’t make the mind-muscle connection that a few minutes of pain meant passing that fitness test.
And how would my life have been different if I had learned to push through pain that early on in life?
Ends up, there was no other way to become a runner but to push through that pain. When I finally decided I could do it, I remember wondering which would happen first. Would my lungs collapse or would my aching shins just fall right off the front of my legs
I remember gasping for breath with each and every step.
Blisters.
Sore toes.
Being embarrassed about how I looked while running.
And thinking I would surely die.
But with each of those hurdles I jumped came a reward.
Smaller clothes.
Fitting in booths.
Making it to goal…and making it to joy.
My hot friend Kevin has me walk in the morning on an empty stomach for my cardio now. I even got fussed at one time for having cream in my coffee before I did it!
But yesterday was a beautiful day…and Wendy can back me up on this one.
Some days you just have to run!
I changed clothes at the gym and looked at the people walking on the treadmill with pity.
They don’t know
Cars were driving past me.
People looking.
Some waving. Some honking.
All wondering what I was doing. Why I was jogging with a smile on my face.
They didn’t know. How could they?
I was running. I was sweating. But I wasn’t panting.
The obese girl-child became a woman who can run five miles with nary a pant and hardly a sweat. And that ten minute mile barrier was broken long ago.
Leaving me to run for nothing but the joy of running.
