BTW, I Love Running Now

I know this sounds crazy.  It is crazy to me too.  After all the shin pain, foot pain, leg pain, butt pain, hip pain, and knee pain.....I have to admit......I now.........drum roll........... like running.  I think I can even say that I love running.  Now that I've worked through all the pain and it doesn't hurt so bad when I run.  And I have my breathing under control.  Running is kinda fun.
I love running!

I would NEVER have believed anyone 3 months ago that told me I would love it.  Hey, wait.... Sarah did tell me I would love it and I didn't believe her.  She was right after all.  Sorry Sarah.  You were right.

I love the feeling of the fresh air.  I love the exhilaration.  I love the calorie burn.  I love the high I feel after.  I love how good my legs feel after a good run.  I love listening to my music when I run.  I love feeling the hot sun or cool wind when I run outside.  I love the glistening sweat that rolls off my body cleaning toxins out of me.

I was waiting for this day.  I've been forcing myself to run for the past several weeks.  My mantra has been, "I hate running".  I was convinced that I was going to keep doing it until I could do it successfully.  I don't think I ever thought I would actually really like it.  I just wanted to be able to do it without feeling like I was dying.  I've surpassed that goal!

I drink a ton of water while exercising.  My 3Day Walk training has taught me to stay hydrated so this idea of running and not having access to water bottles easily was very challenging for me at first.  I've even gotten past that.  I can now hydrate before my runs and go without water, at least for a 2-3 mile run in reasonable temperatures.  So even my burning desire and what I thought was a desperate need has stopped.  I drink before and after my runs and it's ok now.

Now don't get me wrong.......I'm not a fast runner.  My jog is still my run.  My goal isn't to be fast.  At least not yet it isn't.  I'm slow and proud!  I've been  running 25 - 50 minute runs lately.  And this new found love of running is very new.  I can only say the past 4 or 5 runs have I actually said I enjoyed.  I hope that I can say that about many more to come though.  I think I see a 10k in my near future.  And who knows....maybe next a half marathon.  As long as the race crew doesn't mind having a slowbie out there, I might even one day be game to try a marathon but I have time before I'm at that level.  For now, I think I'll just keep working on my runners high as often as I can work it into my schedule.