Another one about running

The May issue of Shape magazine states that "Nearly 44 million Americans reported running outdoors last year (that's a 7 percent jump from the year before)."  Well, count my family among them.

Besides Cortlan's 1K run two Saturdays ago, in March my nephew ran his first half marathon and then more recently his first marathon in Prague.  John has started running.  Everly wants to run.  I ran a 5K the same day as Cort's race (results below).  And as of today, I am officially registered for my first half marathon.  Woo hoo!!

I am not joking or exaggerating when I say that four or five years ago I would have laughed hysterically and not believed you for a second if you told me that I would be training for a half marathon in 2011.  Back then, if I ran, I was happy to complete a mile.  I had a mind block against anything more than 20 minutes of running.  I flat out didn't enjoy it and may have gone so far as to say I hated it.  So much for a person not being able to change.

My neighbor ran with me the other night for the second time.  She is not a runner.  (Yet.)  As she struggled a little bit as we made the loop around a nearby neighborhood, I thought about how torturous running used to seem to be to me.  And I was thinking that she may be thinking the same thing.  And as I tried to verbalize it to her, I realized that trying to describe the transition from running being torture to it being something that I love, need, and generally look forward to doing is like trying to describe to a person who has never been pregnant what it is like to have a baby kick you from inside.  (Now that is quite a parallel, huh?)

I hope that I always enjoy running as much as I currently do.  I hope my legs carry me many more miles.  I hope my neighbor, and many more people, are able to someday understand through experience what I can't quite express in words.


___________________________________________
Again, as my self-designated place to record them, here are the results of my May 21, 2011 5K:
Time: 22.48.70
Pace:  7:21/mile
Division Place: 2nd
Overall Place: 47/415
Team Place: 1st in Women's Division (with a total time of 1:09:57.10 for all three women)