Why are you Running? Are you training for something? Nope, just running....

Now that the weather is getting nicer, more people are out and about as I am running.  I usually try to run when I know no one is going to be around.  Running is a very personal thing for me.  I don't do it for anyone but me and it's my time.  I realize that I live alone and that personal time should be easy but it isn't always.  When you're home, you're always feeling like you need to be doing something.  Chores around the house, catching up on bills, cleaning, etc.  But when you run, it's the only thing you need to be doing at that moment and it's nice.  Now people are coming up to me and asking if I'm

training for something.  Not necessarily (that seems confusing to some).  I'm just running....I "like" it.  I may not always look forward to the run, it may hurt while I run, but I have never regretted running.  I've regretted not finding the the time or motivation to run but never got back from a run regretting the time I spent.  And I never come back from a run upset or stressed.  It's an excellent stress reliever.  Bills, relationships, work chores, whatever may be on my mind, I can guarantee I won't come back from the run still stressed.  The problems will still be there but they won't seem as bad for the time afterwards.  Besides running I've also been working on building up my strength in my upper body and core.  Goal: Consecutive pull ups...which are MUCH harder than they were in elementary for the fitness test (maybe because I weigh more?).  I've been doing a Warrior Dash yearly and this year I signed up for a Spartan Race.  I completed a half marathon and want to do more.  I love watching American Ninja Warrior and wish I could do something like that (I lack so much in the upper body strength).  I sometime look back and wonder what would have happened if I had gotten an interest in fitness earlier in life...like in my twenties, when my body recovered faster and I had more energy and my joints didn't hurt after a long day.  I can't regret what I

didn't do at the time.  Then I look back at the 2-3 years where running, even walking, hurt and I was very limited to what I could do.  Once I got healed up and was able to start moving again, I never stopped.  I signed up for a soccer league that next year, did my first Warrior Dash, and got my focus.  Why?  Because I spent those years hurting and thinking I'd never get better, that it would always hurt.  So every day it doesn't hurt is a gift and I'm thankful for every time I run or work out or play a soccer game and I find myself sore....in the good way!

Youth is wasted on the young....I never understood what that meant...until now.  That didn't make sense until I realized what it meant...you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it anymore.  I'm pushing myself now because I probably didn't push myself then.  Don't let yourself waste anymore time now waiting for your life to begin because it already has!