Never the less, over the last couple of years, I have learned to love something that I once hated. Always, athletic I knew the joy received from a good workout and the exhilaration of accomplishing goals set for myself, but I never found any happiness in running. It was merely a conditioning exercise used to enhance my other athletic performances.
And when I decided to embark on the adventure of running a few years ago, it was exactly that. A means to an end. An endurance exercise to help me reach a goal. A distractor of sorts.
But, now. Now, it is something entirely different.
I run for many different reasons:
to stay heart healthy,
to counter the calorie consumption in my favorite pasta dishes and chocolate,
to chat with the Lord,
to chat with myself,
to let the Lord chat with me,
to listen to good music like New Edition's Candy Girl,
to dance...you lookin' kinda cute in that polka dot bikini giiiiiirl,
to get out my anger and frustration,
to mourn,
to be thankful,
to feel (because sometimes I just get in a rut and cannot feel things),
to get away from crazy,
because I am crazy!
because I am crazy!
My love-hate relationship has turned a corner. How do I know? Because...
1. I look forward to an almost daily run.
2. My morning routine involves determining exactly when I am going to fit that run into my schedule.
3. My evening routine includes updating a mileage and training schedule.
4. I've committed to running a distance longer than a 5K.
5. As much as I abhor the treadmill, I have learned to tolerate it when it's cold or rainy. Which has been a LOT lately.
6. I am now doing an extra load of laundry mid-week to accomodate my shortage of sports bras. Sad, but true.
As addressed in numero cinco above, I have committed to running this innaugural event held in my hometown on May 1st.
Have you ever seen this program? Oh the possibilities of teaching young girls the importance of healthy living and self respect! My heart melts every time I come across this organization. No offense to you boys out there. You're very much appreciated too, just in a different sort of way.
I stumbled across it on the web about a year ago and it has come up in no less that 2,456,789 searches that I have done since then. You think it could be a subtle hint? I'm praying about it.
After heading down several rabbit trails, I better escape this blog world and get back to reality.
Happy Runnning my friends or whatever your activity of choice is (even if that is just chasing after kids all day long),