Run, Forrest, Run!

If you looked at me, you'd never guess that I run. I do not have what you would call a "runner's body." My thighs are pudgy. My butt is wide. I'm pear-shaped. Nope, runners are streamlined. I'm more thick-lined.

But here I am, many a-morning, running on the treadmill to Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" trying to wrack up the miles. As LMFAO's "I'm Sexy and I Know It" blares in my ears, I know I don't look all that sexy. I'm relatively sure that I look ridiculous.



Yep, that bottom picture would be me, I'm sure, and I wouldn't even be as cute as that little girl. But it makes me feel good and I have accomplished so much with it.

I've been running for around 7 years now. Don't ask me why I even started. To quote Forrest Gump: "I just felt like running." The first month I did it, I couldn't run more than 5 minutes at a 10 and 1/2 minute mile without sounding like Darth Vader with a 7 pack a day habit. But it got easier the more I did it.

Pretty soon, I was up to 3 miles. I ran my first 5K at 36 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer run. Did it in a little over 32 minutes. It was so cold and crowded. But I did it and that was the point. More runs followed. Oh, yes, there were set-backs. About once every year, I injure something. Old bones and joints. Fat legs make for weak ankles and knees. I've twisted ankles, had that plantar faciitis, felt like I was going to DIE from the pain. But I keep on keeping on.

Getting the Nike + app on my phone has helped too. Since July of 2010, I've run nearly 280 miles. That's something. People keep asking when I am planning to do a marathon, but I don't know if I have that discipline yet. All I know is when I run 20 miles in a week (at this point on a treadmill since I am NOT a cold-weather runner), I feel like I could run a million. But I still have those days when the legs hurt and I feel old.

My point is, anything is possible. Running seemed impossible 7/8 years ago, and certainly running anything more than 5 minutes seemed horribly deadly. But I achieved that, and it is this thought that inspires me to believe that maybe...just maybe...the things that I think are out of reach are not really, and that this fat-bottomed gal can really do anything she sets her mind to...even run a marathon.

If Forrest can do it, so can I.