A few years ago, when I was still working full time, I had a particularly stressed day while I was working from home. I needed to burn off some steam, so I pulled my old sneakers out (probably left over from college) and went for a run around the block. It was less than .25 of a mile, yet I couldn’t do the whole thing without walking. And, later that day, when my husband came home, I said, “guess what I did as a stress-burner today?”. He couldn’t guess – my going for a run was that out of the ordinary.
Last year, after I quit my job and started having more free time, I started running a little more regularly, like once or twice a week. I bought some new sneakers, but it wasn’t a serious thing. And, I still couldn’t run even 1/2 mile without stopping. Then, when I joined the Walt Disney World Moms Panel, I found out that the panelists reunited every year at the Expedition Everest 5K. At first I thought, well, I don’t run. Then I realized – actually yeah, I kind of do…
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Last week, on Thanksgiving, I ran the Pie Run in Middletown, RI with Diane (my husband, her husband, and her son also ran, but they were all ahead of us). We didn’t come in last. In fact, there was still water being handed out when we passed by. Of course, we were beat by some interesting people, including:
- The woman effortlessly pushing a stroller
- The old man wearing jeans, a belt, and gardening gloves (who was seemingly not even sweating).
- The guy who thought it was a 5K, not a 5 Miler, and didn’t realize his mistake until after the 3.1 mile point.
But that doesn’t matter. I not only beat the handful of people who were behind me, I beat myself. The Jodi of last year who wouldn’t have dreamed of running even around the block.
Next stop, 13.1 miles.
