Getting back into running, or any form of exercise guaranteed to make you simply irresistible, is not easy. Or necessarily cute.
I always compare it to when I first started rowing.
How running one mile as a team we were all huffing and puffing. And then, we piled ourselves into racing shells and spent hours practicing on the water.
Was it easy at first? No. Rowing is never really 'easy' if it is, you're doing it wrong.
Running is a similar thing for me.
After {breaking my foot} and being unable to walk let alone run for two months I was close to turning into a TLC show, or a Lifetime movie if you prefer. Whatever I wanted to eat when in my body, no thought about it, I was tired of being so dependent on other people for everything I needed to do.
I got stuck in a huge rut.
Yesterday I decided I was tired of waiting for my November 'okay to run' date and I got my butt of my couch, threw on my favorite butt hugging lululemons and switched off Toddlers and Tiaras (the hardest part of it all, really). And I walked. For five miles. It didn't matter how long it was going to take me, how red my face was, nothing mattered except the fact that once again I was moving.
The next day I thought I would take it a step further. I posted a few days ago about my {fears related to running post-injury}. These fears still rang through my head. But I finally felt like me again.
Like I had some sort of control over my life. And that was huge for me.
I like to be in control and running helps both to give me that power but also to keep many of my anxieties at bay. For example, yesterday I was worried about my first day of my part-time Floridian job and easily could have spent the afternoon running my fears through my head. Instead, I ran it off.
No set distance, just go off what I felt and watch the foot all the while.
I felt fantastic.
The proof is in the pictures:
Pre-run.
Oh, how happy I look.
So unaware of the pain and sweat that is about to happen.
I don't know what it is, but my little fingers swell up like fat sasuages in the sun when I run.
Tee hee, I made a rhyme!
I know they don't look very swollen but my ring size is about a 5, keep that in mind boys with trust funds just waiting around for me to notice them, so this is big news.
The post run look... Note the abandoned shoes, socks and the dragging ice pack.
This is when I do my best boy catching.
I ended up going for about 4.1 miles. Not a true run really, but more of a jog and a walk. I am still extremely cautious of my foot, especially because I am not technically suppose to run until November.
But I felt so much better. Like I was in control, like everything was going to be okay.
So this is for all of us struggling with our self image, our fitness, or just unsure of a lot of things. It is a reminder to run, or walk, or jog. Get up and move. Make little goals and then surround them with big goals.One of my goals is to run a half marathon as a St. Jude's Hero.
Am I ready to run 13.1 miles tomorrow?
Certainly not.
But I will get there.
And sometimes, a little faith and trust (and pixie dust?) are all that you need. Here is to better, healthier, happier us.
Lets make a change.