OK, I'm willing to admit it...

I think I've become a runner. I've been getting into running in the last 8 months or so thanks to a few different factors, the most influential being the awesome Zen player Chris gave me for Christmas. I love this thing, not only does it have an FM radio (take that apple!), it has lots of awesome DJ features, and my personal fav, a speaker that allows me to run and listen without dealing with the headphone wires bouncing around my neck. But this blog is about running, not cool toys.

For the most I've been active my whole life, I love soccer and will play it at any opportunity I get, especially now that I'm an adult and women or even co-ed leagues are fairly hard to come by. Besides playing club ball and high school soccer, I grew up in a great neighborhood for pick-up games and sports. We were constantly running around, rollerblading, riding bikes, and yet every fall when it was time to start running for soccer, I dreaded it. I waited till there was someone else to go with me, and even tried to clip my walkman on my shorts and then spent the whole run keeping my umbros from falling down (another reason I'm so excited about the zen). In junior high I didn't make the soccer team, so I decided to do track. I rationalized it by figuring at least I was still "playing a sport" but the only thing left for me to run was the mile. Ugh, it was torture, I can even remember, to my everlasting shame, not finishing one race. Definitely not an experience that endeared me to running.

Flash forward 16 years and I'm all I've got to motivate myself to exercise, but my choices are somewhat limited since I don't believe I would get my money's worth from a gym membership. I've memorized the Tae bo video, and laughed through a couple other videos I'm embarrassed to mention I own. We purchased a stationary bike shortly after moving into a home that had a better location for exercise equipment then Chris's side of the bed (that's where he wanted to put one at our old house). The bike is good, it does the trick, and I can watch TV, or read, or even play wii while I'm riding, but even that gets boring to me. I really never thought I was this hard to please!

Now with a brand new toy and a very mild winter, I decided to see if maybe my feelings had changed any for my old nemesis, running. Alas, it had not, well, not much anyway. The Zen provided entertainment which kept me distracted from the actual exercise, and was enough initial motivation to keep me going. I wheezed my way through the first few weeks till suddenly I started to notice that I was running further, getting less cramps, and even made myself go out on days where the weather wasn't so mild. Still, I really didn't consider myself a runner since my enjoyment came more from the sense of accomplishment, than from actually putting sneaker to pavement.

So why am I finally willing to admit it? A little over two months ago I hurt my feet. I ran 5 miles, they were sore, but then I finished the job at John's wedding where I wore fabulous 3 inch heels and then went barefoot, dancing and running around all night. My already sore arches were destroyed, and I've been struggling with them ever since; resting and stretching and icing and wearing my sneakers 24/7 and they still kept getting hurt. Sure I was frustrated that my feet were hurt and I couldn't seem to get them better on my own, but I also missed running. I didn't want to get out of the habbit I had formed, and after weeks of shortned runs at a slower pace, I long for the challenge of adding distance and the reward of shaving seconds off my best times. I like running, I enjoy the exercise, and after 28 years, I have officially become a runner.