"I Wish I Could Run Like That"

Look, I've been disappointed in myself the past few days, but I also have to remember to be kind to myself, too, especially since I have not been feeling well since the weekend. My back has been really hurting so sleep hasn't been great, and getting up in the mornings practically torture. As it follows, my eating kind of took a wrong turn, too. I'm trying really hard not to beat myself up about it.

On a brighter side, I've kept up my running streak – OK, maybe not totally since I had to walk yesterday and the day before, but I did something on my two feet for a mile, dammit! – and today I was feeling better enough to try a run again, finally. I waited until almost 8pm just because it's been so hot lately, and I ended up having a really nice time. I started out with a warm-up walk up my street's little hill, and began my run on a different route than usual, which was really nice for a change. For one thing, I wasn't totally sure when I'd hit the mile marker on this new route and I didn't care. I was just enjoying myself.

The best part of my run today was passing by a young woman (I'm guessing late teens-early twenties) who smiled at me and said, "I wish I could run like that!" Of course I replied, "You CAN! Really!" She even had the type of physique you think would be perfect for running and made me wonder why that person like that thinks she couldn't do it. Anyway, it made me feel pretty awesome, so thanks, whoever you were, lovely lady! (I know, I know – so much for judging people by what their body looks like, right?)

(That said, after I posted the above paragraph on Facebook, a couple friends commented that it could have been that the woman had some kind of physical limitation that was not apparent by a casual glance, which is totally true. I totally get that. In this case, it was also just really a nice surprise that someone was so outwardly nice to me while I was out running. I tend to feel pretty vulnerable sometimes, even after over a year of running in public, to potential verbal abuse. Luckily, it almost never happens. But when someone is friendly and encouraging, it really makes my day.)

Today marked Day 10 of 30 of my challenge, and I am pretty excited about it. I am absolutely counting the two days that I walked, mainly because it was what I could do and I would have run the mile if I felt comfortable doing so – but as it was the walks were challenging enough with my back in that condition.

I ended up doing just over 1.3 miles today and I felt strong. I'm building a foundation.

(N. B. >> Also wanted to note a thought that I had on my run today. It's that I absolutely own the fact that no matter how slow I am, I am a runner. However, I consider myself sort of baby runner. I am still growing and still learning and doing little tiny things that will hopefully develop into bigger and better things.)

Baby runner, baby!