Are you a runner? Once someone told me that it doesn’t matter if you run 2 miles or 20, if you go out for a run, then you are a runner. And that was enough for me. I took that definition and I ran with it. Over the last few years it’s more likely that you’d here me say that I “used to be” a runner due to some injuries that have had me sidelined. But, I refused to give up. I have worked for three years with a chiropractor, personal trainers, Pilates instructor and the occasional yogi to get back in my running shoes and moving down the road. And guess what, I did it. I can run! Yay… right?
UGH!
I have a serious love/hate relationship with my running shoes.
I love saying “I’m a runner.” I love the mental health boost that I get, and need, from going from even a two mile run. Running helps to calm the chaos. I love the health, let’s be real, the weight loss benefits of running.
But… it hurts. It takes about a mile to get my muscles and joints loosened up so that I can keep moving and I spend the entire mile debating if the run is necessary and explaining to myself that there is no shame in going for a brisk walk. And then of course, there’s the stretching, the foam rolling, the massage therapy ball of evil. All of it hurts.
When the alarm goes off early in the morning, it’s so easy to convince myself that I should just hang up my running shoes and give up the “runner” label. But today I did it. I put my shoes on. I walked out my front door.
I ran.
It was only two miles, but I did it. And yes, then I came home, grabbed my foam roller and committed to the torture that keeps me going. And somehow, despite the reluctance and the dreaded foam roller, I feel better. My head is clearer. My day is better. The chaos has calmed a bit.
So, I guess I keep running. I mean, now that I can, I might as well, right?
How about you? What do you struggle to do each day that ends up making your day better?
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