I am a runner

A great friend gave me a book for my birthday called Run Like A Mother by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea.  I am not entirely done with it, but I am close.  And what I have read, I have loved.  When she gave it to me, the gifting friend said something along the lines of, "I knew I liked this book when they mentioned having to schedule showers as a mom.  I can so relate."  And even though I have only run two 5K's, have no desire to ever run a marathon (at this point), and am only vaguely tossing around the idea of training for a 10K, the nice thing is that with this book, I can so relate, too. 

I was a sprinter in high school, and I have only recently gotten into running for any significant distance.  And by significant, I mean more than 200m, so I have been reluctant to actually consider myself "a runner." In many people's minds, I probably still am not.  But this morning, I donned my moisture-wicking tank, tied my pink Nikes (not my brand new ones), and headed out for a morning run before the kids woke.  In the rain.  And as I ran the first 0.5 mile, I decided that as of today, I will consider myself a runner.  Because I just knowingly went for a run in the rain.  Now, I have been caught in the rain before, about a mile from home, and didn't have any other option but to run in the rain; and the second 5K that I ran was partially in the rain.  But this was the first time there was a choice in the matter, and I made the choice to run. 

So, as of today, by my very own definition, I am a runner.  And I run like a mother.