I never considered myself a runner despite being an athlete my whole life. After an ACL injury took me out of competitive sports in high school and I went through 9 months of physical therapy, I started running on treadmills to try to get back into shape. It makes me laugh now because you couldn't pay me to run on a treadmill. I was too afraid to run outside; I am by no means some incredibly graceful and natural looking runner. I didn't do cross country or track in high school... I don't look like the Nike ads - and that made me self-conscious. Little did I know the beauty of it all is that no one looks like that. Hit a trail any Saturday or Sunday morning and it is filled with all kinds of people - old and young, skinny and heavier, graceful and clumsy; they all have something in common - they're trying! And they're all runners.
I started dating Isaac when I was 20. A few months into our relationship, he made a simple statement - "running outside is harder than running on a treadmill". That meant that now I HAD to run outside. I couldn't let all those outdoor runners beat me. It was a whole new world, learning to pace myself. I remember hating how winded I would get running uphill, how difficult it was to plan routes, and hated the fact that I would have people see me out and about on runs. It took more than a year for me to feel confident running outside and finally identify as a runner. At that point I started to enjoy going on runs vs. feeling obligated. I decided to do my first half marathon (which terrified me at the time - I didn't sleep at all the night before), then another 2 halves, and finally my first full marathon. A couple marathons later, I started trail running. I don't know if any run feels better than escaping civilization and running straight into the woods. So freeing.
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| Portland Marathon |
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| Seattle Marathon |
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| Lulu half marathon |
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| Chelan Marathon |
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| Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon |
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| Seattle Rock N Roll Half |
Running led me to yoga. I started doing yoga to stretch my sore muscles and try to prevent injury. Yoga taught me to let my brain rest, which I started to apply to running. Running became meditative for me. I am grateful I found yoga. Yoga has taught me that perfection is not the goal. Beating someone else is not the goal even though it's my impulse. It's not a competition with others, it's about you and your body. It's not about attaining a perfect pose, accomplishing a specific bend or twist or balancing pose. Yoga is simply the practice of uniting the mind, body, and spirit. It is a practice. One of my favorite teachers always points out that it is yoga practice - not yoga perfect.
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| Home practice. Deck practice :) |
Running led me to Ironman. As much as I love running and yoga, I am always looking for another mountain to climb. When my friend Nate brought up that he had finished Ironman and he hadn't even run a marathon before (meaning I could totally do it) - it got my wheels spinning. I had been wanting to get into triathlons. I was a swimmer (I was a lifeguard and swim instructor through high school and college), I could learn to bike, and I knew I could run a marathon. My confidence in my athleticism got me to sign up for Ironman before I had even completed my first actual triathlon. If you're going to set a goal, might as well set a big one.
I am so grateful I found running. It centers me, brings me to a peaceful place where nothing else matters except breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. It led me to two other passions. I have gained so much from running. I always laugh when people tell me they can't run. Can't is different than choosing not to because it's hard. Most people I know are fully capable of jogging a few miles. Running takes time and dedication to do, but it gives you so much more back. It's given me passion. It's given me freedom. It's made me a stronger person. Running helped me find myself. Running made me appreciate my body. Running helped me love myself. I truly believe running can do the same for anyone who chooses to commit to it. I understand that not everyone is going to be a runner, but I just hope that everyone finds their thing.
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