First off, let me just say I am not one of those totally dedicated marathon runners or anything like that. I don't like to drive 26 miles let alone attempt to run it. It started after I quit smoking (more on that later). I decided I needed to get into shape since the one I had wasn't working for me. Not that I'm a big girl. Not even close. I'm about 5'2" tall and weight around 104 lbs as long as I keep all my clothes on and happen to be holding a stack of books. I'm what you would call naturally thin....or skinny, stick figured, bean poled as the kids I went to school with would say. But being small does not immune you from gravity. Like the arm jiggle that occurs when you wave to people. Or the jello like motion of your upper legs while you walk. It still happens regardless of your size. I wish I would have listened back when I was young about how you need to take care of your body for when you get older. Had they just shown a picture of what your body would look like at 45 compared to 17, I might have been more diligent in those efforts. I added some light weight lifting on my non-run days to help control the amount of movement my body does without my consent. Anyway, since I didn't want to pay a gym membership because I knew I'd go non-stop for a solid week, congratulate myself on being dedicated, and then quit, I thought running might suit me. No monthly membership fee and I have an excuse to buy shoes. I know. Most women who have a love of shoes go right to the ankle breaker section, but not me. One, I still have to shop in the kids section and they don't exactly make stilettos for children, and two, I can't wear those. I mean I can. I just shouldn't. Any type of walking or standing while wearing them and I could seriously injure myself. When it comes to adorning my feet, boots and tennis shoes are my best friends. I love boots! But what I love even more than those are Converse. I have about 30 pair now. And since I still wear kids sizes, I get them for cheap! Or at least cheaper. My husband thinks I need help. I just think I need a bigger place to put them. Naturally I don't wear converse when I run. Although I do secretly think I would look pretty BA running on the trails in my Batmans, but I have to buy actual running shoes for that. And of course they tell you that one pair isn't enough so I make sure to get a few. So, yea, I run. Well, jog really. Saying you run kind of gives the impression that you're fast and I'm not. I mean I'm faster than walkers, but just barely. I've been doing it for about 4-5 years now and do about 3.5 miles every other day. Seems to be working. I'm able to run that distance without stopping....at least not a whole lot.
One thing I realized as I ventured into the world of being able to out distance a stalker, is that just because you are naturally thin, does not mean you are healthy. Of course smoking didn't do me any favors there. I quit about 6 years ago. I was lucky. It was very easy for me. That time. The other 18 times wasn't. I was never a real heavy smoker fortunately. About 1/2 pack a day was my usual thing, and I could go a day or two without a cigarette. I'd done it numerous times. One day though I skipped a day, then another, then another, and somehow kind of forgot I was a smoker. I know! How does one forget they smoke? I'm not sure, but somehow I did. When I finally realized I hadn't had a cigarette in about 2 weeks, I decided to just roll with it. They aren't kidding when they say you will feel different. I could take deep breaths, I could smell everything (that wasn't always a positive by the way), food tasted different......and I suffered from huge bouts of vertigo. I was really concerned after I googled my symptoms and had pretty much determined that it was too late. I was going to die. I had some horrible disease or tumor or something like that. They put the warning on the sides of the packs for a reason. I immediately made an appointment with my doctor and started rehearsing what I would tell my family. Turns out all that worrying was for nothing. My brain was just finally getting the oxygen it always needed to function properly.
It was about a year after I quit that I decided to look into ways to get fit and found myself with a new pair of running shoes and a desire to be able to outrun the slow people in the event of a zombie apocalypse. If anyone ever tells you that it feels great to run, they are lying. I know because those same people lied to me. Oh I feel fabulous after. I mean I finished! It's over for the day! But while I'm running? No. It's not like those promotional pictures they show you in ads for shoes or running clothes. You know the ones. Where the women look all cute and perfect in their running attire and they are smiling like it's the best thing ever. I'm not saying that there aren't people like that. I've just never seen them. But I guess they wouldn't sell their merchandise if they showed the reality. A woman all sweaty, red faced, and looking as if she's one step away from crawling to her destination or just taking a nap in the middle of the sidewalk. But it's something I can do to help keep myself in shape and I don't need any fancy equipment to do it. I usually run on my lunch break. I work close to a park that is by the river. Very beautiful and scenic. Not that I really notice to be honest. I'm more focused on how far I've run and calculating if I will be done soon. That's pretty much my entire thought process the whole time. I do see a lot of other runners when I'm out and give them the "hey you're a runner too" hand wave. That's something I found weird my first few times out. I started with the Couch to 5K running app (something I highly recommend for beginners....no I don't get paid to promote it. I wish) and people would do a type of hand wave/salute/thumbs up kind of thing as we passed each other. After this happened a few times, I realized it's a solidarity thing. A kind of encouragement nod. You know, good job! Go you! Like a private club moment. Not the, "yea, I recognize you from that youtube video where you were drunk at your best friends wedding and vomited all over the dance floor while exposing yourself to all of their friends and family" gesture I thought it was. Not that anything like that actually happened.
So, yea, I'm a runner. I actually do enjoy it when I'm not being chased by dogs or getting bugs in my eyes....or worse yet, my mouth. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel healthy. It makes my body jiggle just a little bit less than it did before.
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