R is for Run

Running. Uggggh it's the worst. Most. Boring. Sport. Ever. Is it even a sport? Running was never something I really enjoyed doing.

I did it to
1) stay in shape for soccer at JCCHS. Word to all my cross country buddies from Sweet Home Alabama.
2) loose some lbs
3) train for a race

 But never for enjoyment. Until now. Or well a few months ago.  A short time after I gave birth to Gianna I ran walked into some neighbors down the street, Erin and Rachel. They asked me if I was a runner (to which I replied "not really") and they told me about a local women's running club. They then led me to believe that they did not run too fast. Which is a total lie. They are speed demons.

I decided that I would like to try to join that little group that meets once a week and then drinks coffee. Truthfully, the most alluring part was the prospect of a weekly coffee outing sans kiddos.
So I made it my goal to start running again. I joined a gym and tried to learn to run after about a 3 year break. Slowly. It was painful at first. I was going turtle speed and it was mentally challenging.

Eventually I made it to the once a week coffee run and it was great. And I still love it. Thanks for everyone who runs with me and puts up with me mainly running my mouth more then my legs.

Run. Like. H-E-double toothpicks. In costume.

Another reason why I stuck it out with running was my new friend Kelley moved to town and had decided to pick up her running shoes and we became running buddies. She went from never running to running 6 miles in a few months! Woah. Go Kelley go!

I started signing up for some races. Just to ensure that I didn't quit my recycled hobby.

The whole fam damily. matchy matchy.

Then one day my husband came home and told me he signed us up for this triathlon thing, called Morgan's Little Miami Triathlon. I thought it was like a fake triathlon. It was a 6 mile canoe, 5 mile run, 18 mile bike ride. I don't remember exactly why that sounded fake to me. I suppose since there is no swimming. Everyone there looked pretty legit. Anyway, it was so fun. I think partly because it was the most time I've spent alone with my husband in months. And partly because I hadn't been on a bicycle in years and years. Which was probably a mistake that I would remedy before attempting that again. (Especially the learning to ride a bike with clip on shoes the night before. Thanks for letting me borrow your bike Ben.)

Liz is really a foot taller than me. She is bending waaay down.

I found out about a half marathon taking place in our city and I convinced my dad (an old guy) and my sister Liz (a fit college senior) to sign up with me. So on October 23 of this year we ran it and my old dad smoked me. It was still fun for me. Then it hit me. I like to run. I like to run with people that I can talk to while I run so that I don't have to think about the actual running that is going on. That must be the secret to good running. 

And as of last week I even ran outside in below freezing weather. It was traumatic, but I ran with my Division 1 runner friend Joanna who just had a baby 8 or so weeks ago (that's the only way I could keep up with her) and my awesome sister Katie who has legs as long as my body. So unfair. And we talked and therefore did not think about the running that was taking place. And the weird thing about running in the cold is that after like 5 minutes you don't really notice the cold anymore.

Anyway, the point of this was supposed to be that I think running or walking is a good hobby for moms for their emotional health. Or really anyone for their emotional health as well as their physical. I feel like less of a crazy person when I run.

What do you do to feel less crazy?