Making a run for it!

I've been trying to lose a few pounds, several actually! Over the course of a long, snowy winter, along with taking a medication right now that causes bloating (I call them "fat pills", haha) the weight kind of crept up on me and I am determined to get RID of it. I know my main issue is exercise-now that I work fulltime in addition to my part-time restaurant gig and my freelance writing business, sometimes it really is hard to carve out that hour or so to work out. I try to do it no matter what, but its not always easy. And as a mom, I always suffer from "mom guilt" when I'm away from home even one more hour than  I have to be.

I decided I was going to go run today when I got off work. I've been running for about 14 years now, and it is not only a stress reliever for me, it is a great way to lose weight and feel good! I'm an outside runner, treadmills make me feel like a hamster in a cage, so this winter's extra snow made me "run away" from running (I know-groan!). I'm not a fast runner-if I do a 10 minute mile I'm doing awesome-but I have managed to compete in lots of races over the years, to include half marathons around the country, our local "heart run" 5k and our annual "Women's Run" , a 5 miler to benefit breast cancer awareness. This is me running:

Ha!

I don't care. I don't care that I will never be the fastest runner out there, or that  I like to take "walk breaks" on the steep hills. I love getting outside, enjoying the feeling of the pavement or trail pounding under my feet, letting my lungs fill with air, feeling the strength in my legs and the power of my stride. That's the great thing about running-at the end of the day, the only race is the one you have with yourself, in your own mind. Runners will tell you that it is a very mental sport-however far you think you can run, you can usually run twice that distance! I've participated in half marathons (13 miles) with only 6-7 mile training runs under my belt beforehand. And every time, I've managed to complete those races, all with minimal suffering.

I think that running is a lot like life. We are sometimes our own biggest naysayer, our worst enemy. Yet when it comes time to run that race, we can always do much more than we think we can. We are stronger than we can imagine, and every day people prove it.

Get out there and do it. "Run" your own life, its the only one you get. Make the most of it, and remember you can always run just a few miles farther than you think.