Running~ Gettting Started

Anyone who has known me for any length of time can tell you that I used to despise the very idea of running.  My old motto used to be, 'if you see me running, it is no doubt because my ass is no fire'.  I thank a life time to cranky gym teachers for this motto.  Really, did they need to wear those awful polyester track pants and be SOOOOO mean.  Really? 

It was not until 6 years ago that I even considered running and even then I refused to run outside or in front of anyone.  I was a 100% treadmill runner.  But then my kids were born and I got heavier and heavier.  I thought that I was simply too fat and too out of shape to run.  So, I started out walking and I would walk a little longer each day.  I did this off and on for months until I was easily able to walk the distance of a 5K (3.10 miles).  Then one day I just started off running and I decided I would run until the next intersection.  And that intersection I decided to run to the next intersection and on and on.  Before I knew it I had run 2 miles.  I could not believe it.  My feet believed it and that was when I discovered that socks for running should not be cotton!  Holy blisters, Batman! 

So, with my new sporty running socks on I set off on my twice weekly runs and I was loving it. I had high hopes of losing weight and maybe meeting some new friends in a running group.  I contacted one in my local area, only to be told that I was too slow and need not be bothered in joining.  I would be running alone, anyway, said the woman so why bother showing up to the groups runs at all.  It was so discouraging.  I really let it get me down and I went back to walking.  And eating.  A couple of weeks later my father in law came up for a visit and I asked him for his advice on improving my running time.  He has been running for years and at 60 years of age runs almost daily.  I told him what the woman from the local club had said and he laughed, 'she's and idiot!  Your goal should be how long you are going to be able to run, not how fast and by how long I mean how many years. All the guys I used to run with who gave me a hard time about being slow are now to broken down to run.'

With this renewed thought in mind I started again and this time I was determined to make a real change in my life.  This time I was determined to do it for myself and by myself. I started a mile at time and now my typical run is a 3.14 miles.  Don't get me wrong, I am slow.  Really, really slow.  Only now I really don't give a shit.

If you are interested in starting to run check out the following sites. 
The Courage to Start
Cool Running
Runners World

You don't need to join a gym, hire a trainer or go to a boot camp to get fit and lose weight.  You can do it yourself.  You can find the strength within.  I know, not because I done it but because I am doing it.  I might stumble and fall along the way, but I am going to get there.  And now my motto is, The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.(John 'The Penguin' Bingham)