The First Run

Lest you think I am a natural athlete whose talents simply lie dormant until I tapped into them, let me take this opportunity to disavow you of that notion. I was not involved in competitive athletics to any great degree when I was growing up. A single season in soccer and gymnastics classes that never resulted in any meets were my only athletic endeavors. Interestingly enough, I did try out for my middle school track team when I was in the seventh grade. My physical education teacher inspired me to run because it seemed to be the one sport in which I really showed promise. I didn't make the team because I was not a good sprinter. I was edged out by another girl for the last spot on the team. Looking back, I wish I had known that I could still be a good long distance runner and kept running in spite of not making the track team. That is not what happened, though. I tossed the tennis shoes after that school year was over.

I went out for my first run June 25, 2010. I waited until the kids were in bed sleeping before going out so it was already dark, but that is a good thing when you live in Texas during the summer. The temperatures outside were still in the mid 80's at 10:00pm. I would love to tell you I felt great after my first effort to get in shape, but that would be an enormous lie. The plan was to run 1.75 miles. Not much, I know, but I did not want to overdo it an end up injured after only one exercise session. I started off at a comfortable jog thinking, "This is going to be easy". I did not even make it to the halfway point before I had to stop and walk. I could not even run one mile! How humiliating. And humbling. I was out of breath and fatigued after so little work. I had done my homework though, and I knew that I needed to keep my heart rate up for better than twenty minutes or I would not see a change in my metabolism and I would not lose weight, which after all was the whole point of getting off the couch. So I kept on going, pushing myself to run as much as I could and fast walk what I could not. I did not keep a record of my time, but it did take over twenty minutes so I was at least able to be happy that I had accomplished one goal.

I went to bed that night feeling pretty discouraged by my poor performance, but more determined to make a change in my life than before the run. I got up the next morning and of course, had to step on the scale and see if there was any change. I was honestly surprised to see that I was one and a half pounds lighter than the day before. Really? After one run? That was it. I was sold. I knew I had found the key to losing weight for me. That was my initial motivation for getting in motion and kept me going until another motivation took its place. After that first run, I became focused and driven in a way I had not been about anything for a very long time.