Running

My personal history with running can be said to have started in high school. It was not a glorious start. I went running with a girlfriend through a park the next town over. I am not sure how many laps we did. We may not have even completed once around before she started to pull ahead of me and I was cursing this bad idea. When she turned around to see just what had happened to me she stopped running and started laughing. You see apparently I had set the image of Kermit riding his bicycle in the "Muppet Movie". Just all flapping , gangly limbs it would seem. The nickname "Kermit" stuck through the next two years of high school. And to this day if someone yells Kermit I will turn to respond.

Next came my re-introduction to running by a college roommate who had thick brown hair , was a great athlete and carrying a double major of chemistry and biology. Needless to say I wanted to find something I could keep up with. So I started running with her. She had also explained the "adrenal rush" to me which sounded intriguing. And really that is when the real interest began. I didn't read books or magazines. I just laced up the sneakers, grabbed my boom box (...well my Walkman but for all accounts it felt that big) and went out the door.

During my 20's I ran quite a bit. I travelled for about 3 years , working in various states and would not know many people and the people I did become friends with usually were well ensconced in their lives. When I lived in New Jersey for a summer I met a fellow travel nurse who loved to run trails. I felt bad for her since we were after all in New Jersey. She assured me she had found a great trail and invited me along to try it out. I was hooked. I was also left in her dust. It became my goal to run that trail just like she did. She practically bounced off the ground missing rocks and fallen tree limbs like some kind of jack rabbit. By the end of summer I won't say I looked as graceful but I could have run that trail with my eyes closed. While living in South Carolina I worked mostly during the day and would run after work. I drove my route one afternoon to clock how many miles I was running. I watched with fascination as the odometer kept moving and when I reached my starting point it was a total of seven miles. The next week I signed up for a 5K. I did it in 23 minutes. Which for a girl who started out running like Kermit with all limbs a-flailing this was huge.

I kept running up until I got married. I am not sure why I stopped. I never ran to keep my weight down or keep my body in any kind of particular shape so perhaps I just let it fall away until I had forgotten how great it felt.

Two years ago I my husband suggested I run the Hartford Half Marathon with him. I scoffed at first since I had not had my running shoes on in some time, like about 7 years. But I thought "you're on,"laced up my sneakers and went out the door only to return panting and doubled over with a kink in my side. It did get better and the kink disappeared and it looked like I might even make it to the half marathon . Then we found out I was pregnant. There went running and just about any other form of recreation.

That baby is now 15 months old and time is again, however slight , on my side. A couple girlfriends invite me last fall to join their running group and once again those sneakers got laced up and I hit the road. I again have that half marathon in my sights. I have quite a ways to go. My mileage and the time I run it needs to improve by about double at this point but really for a mother of three I feel pretty good even making the attempt.

I emailed my husband a couple weeks back when I had clocked the run I had done that morning and the odometer kept climbing until it reached four miles and I was back in my driveway. I emailed him the distance and he emailed back:
"Run, Forest , run."
And that is just what I plan to do.