Repentant Thinner

I was at the Opening Day festivities on campus where I work this week and ran into a friend who had just been announced as winning an award for her teaching excellence.  As we met in a common area after the ceremony,  I said, "Congratulations!"  She replied with, "Congratulations to you..." (And, at this point, I'm thinking 'you have the wrong person---I didn't get an award...) "...on your commitment to fitness/wellness!"  It caught me totally off-guard.  As I was thanking her, I had to convince myself that she WAS talking about me.  Why is that?  I don't know if it was because I hadn't yet seen the value of my journey...or if I didn't feel it warranted such accolades.  Whatever it was, since then, I've thought about it a lot.  I DO deserve the congratulations, but more importantly, I deserve to be healthy and nobody is going to do it for me. Which leads me to the next point I pondered while running today... Allow me some time...

Week 2.  Since I've done this once before, it's all coming back to me now... In working through a run/walk program, you hit spots where it's difficult and others where it seems almost too easy.  Thursday was difficult as it was the first day 'up' the ladder at this level.  Today was an easy day, relatively.  That built-in intermittent positive reinforcement keeps us going; that much is obvious. The challenges on Thursday had me thinking about all the 'spiritedness' I have with running.  Don't like running when it's too hot...my face gets overheated and makes it feel like my head is going to explode...the dogs aren't yet 'in the groove' with the pattern of things, so they sometimes get yanked away from something they are sniffing because I don't want to stop...I only like running at certain times of the day...I don't like running clothes that are too tight or too loose or have itchy seams...  Kind of amazing that I make it out th...

Where to start? Here is good, I guess.   I've never been an 'athlete'.  I was raised in a family that was more familiar with 'intellectual' pursuits such as band and theatre along with just enough 'outdoorsy' like fishing and hunting.  I was a track manager and loved it--that was active enough for me.  It didn't help that growing up I had less-than-supportive teachers in fitness/gym classes and older parents who weren't physically active.   As I moved through college and early married life, active meant that we found things to do--hiking, walking, sightseeing etc--that had a purpose other than just getting exercise.  Just as I was losing the extra pounds from having Boy #1, I badly broke my ankle and ended up with major surgery and a busy 10-month-old.  When the ankle healed, I then became pregnant with Boy #2.  Fitness was just trying to keep up with life!   My first experience with running for fitness (by choice, rather than fo...