this is a story about a runner.
how she started and where she is now.
and okay yeah, that she. is me.
I was a runner in high school. more to the point. I was a horrible hurdler. I hit them. all the time and every time. I doubted my timing and sucked - bad. then I got sick. not just sick, but Strep. Mono. a sinus infection, tonsillitis and a double ear infection. I was a freaking train wreck. and SUDDENLY then for some feverish deluded reason - I decided I wanted to start really running. I was off of school for two weeks. I began running a bit at a time - had to cuz I woke up in a ditch after a few miles. I never said I wasn't stupid - I'd just made up my mind. I wanted to run.
Then I started college. Ran a bit here and there but not seriously.
Then I got married and got a job and then a different job. I was - at that point about 26. I was a help desk/software admin for a really mental software company in Brookfield WI and folks there actually drank on the job. really really. I started running on my lunch hour just to get out of Dodge. I started a mile at a time. and after a year and many bloody toes - I found that a mile had turned into 6. I could run - 6 miles in an hour. That seemed to me pretty great and my runs were actually pretty great since I lived in Waukesha.
It was 6 miles around my country block and that took my sweaty ass passed some pretty amazing scenes. I actually tried to outrun a thunderstorm once and almost made it. sorta.
Then I got pregnant. times 3.
Not triplets thank GOD but 3 kids in 6 years. "Running" only meant to the bathroom or out for diapers. But I found I could jump rope in my living room for an hour and still stay fit. and be home.
Then I remarried.
I discovered that Illinois hated me. I fell. a lot. Maybe it's just their sidewalks are shit - I don't know - but I kept falling. like almost needing stitches falling. I fell about 6 times. I hated running there. I stopped and stuck to jump rope in the driveway. Even in December. it was a better idea.
Then we moved to VA.
I started running. a lot. I never fell. Not once.
Then. one day.
I decided to do a marathon. I just kinda announced it and it even came out as a bit of a surprise for me.
I trained hard and heavy and worked up to doing 15 miles a day. 7 days a week. for 5 months. I lost 20 lbs. I - at 5'8" weighed 120 lbs - less if I did 20 miles. I felt like I could do anything - be anything - and was killing my kidneys. I didn't realize that running that much and not drinking more than water was a bad thing. I was peeing blood everyday! Genius! right - I know. Electrolytes people. your friends.
I was set on this marathon. It was all I cared about - and honestly at the end of the day it was the hardest thing I physically ever did. At mile 21 I wanted to stop and sit down. But the drill sergeant in my brain only let me walk through the water stop. I finished in 3:43. I know I could have done faster if I hadn't walked but I was so happy to have finished.
After we got out of the crowd I wanted to get a tattoo. Nobody wanted to do it for me since they thought I'd been through so much. The tattoo of XXVI.ii on my ankle took less than 5 minutes. really?
Today I struggle. I pick music for my IPOD that moves me - and yet I stay on the treadmill. I'm afraid of training again. I am afraid of diarrhea - yeah training in the heat of a VA summer - I need a bathroom after mile 12! Nobody tells you about THAT happy shit (literally) If I'm at home I can get off and use my own bathroom - in the wild I am at the mercy of the McDonald's or Taco Bell or 7-11. The evil looks I imagine. This intel isn't to discourage you but nobody really tells you when you start all of the happy things that await the novice runner who just wants to "do" a marathon. My sister and her hubby did one and for my poor sister it didn't end nicely. She hurt her knee and it was a slow sad end. I was alone and I know Roger will never run with me. So anything I run is alone.
And then as the runner ages we experience all of the fun "getting OLDER" events. I hurt my achilles a while back because I found that running on an incline is DUMB. yeah.
Oh and at home I am barefoot 99% of the time and so I am inclined to KICK THINGS that are hard and stationary.
I broke my toe AGAIN!! and had to take 5 days off. I hate being injured but being so - makes me breathe. I like that. I stop for a second and focus. Once it stopped being the purple angry toe of death, . I did 8 miles then 9 miles and today over 10. Yet - training for another marathon scares me because I know how selfish it makes me. It makes me focus on my needs and my goals and I have a tween and teens. Until they are not my priority - they have to be my focus. I'm the only one who cares about what happens to them on a daily basis. I need to figure out how to make my goals and theirs meet. Aislinn is set on track for her sport this year. I am going to try to volunteer for her team. I know if my parents had spent time with me in school I would have done better. Not a dig but a truth. I know I was a hard kid to raise. Still am :D But being there seems to be 9/10 of the battle.
I'm ready for a half marathon. Not a full - because I don't want it to be about me for another 6 months. I love being a runner. It's fun and sticky and sweaty!!! and it's a part of my DNA. But my DNA has more parts than just Katie.
If you don't run - I'm not saying you are less than anything - but running is kinda my thing.- whatever your thing is - that's great. I'm trying to see if I can get Roger into tennis with me. I'm horrible at it but passionate.
I guess it comes down to what makes us tick. I am full of quirks. Passionate or weird. Places I avoid - things I do - foods I eat or don't. Music that moves me. I know I dissed Glee. I do like it. In a love/hate sorta way. It's hard for me.
I am picking my drumbeat - my cadence. I hope it works.
My prayer for you is that you have yours and it moves you.
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