Outrunning Me

Competition: it makes the world go round.  I am not going to pretend I am not competitive; I am.  Even at 4:30 in the morning with the runner across the street, when the only thing I can make out about them is that they are not lamp post, because they are moving too much, I still run a little faster then if I am the only one out.  I mean you don't know who that is and you would not want this total random stranger to think they are a better runner than you.  My husband is always joking about his fear of me chicking him in a race one day.  Okay I think he is joking.  So who do you run to beat?

I will let you in on a little secret there is someone I run to beat every time I lace up my shoes.  It is that girl I used to be. The girl before I got more serious first about fitness, (mostly thanks to hubby)then about running (totally thanks to hubby).  Ever heard of the term skinny fat.  Yeah, at least in my teens and 20s that was me.  I looked healthy; if thin equals healthy.  But I couldn't do anything physical.  I was that girl in high school during the President's physical fitness test who walked the 20 minute miles while reading my Advanced Placement English assignment.  I would choose almost anything over going outside and getting any exercise.  My parents had an intervention because they did not know how they were going to tell their friends that their honor roll, honor society daughter flunked out of High School because I could not pass P.E.

 

That is the girl I set out to beat.  Believe me sometimes when I am getting ready to run she is in the mirror and she says all the stuff you might imagine, "you can't do this. There is no value in this.  Why don't you read a book?  You'll never be as good as everyone else.  You're not athletic.  You weren't cut out for this. You are not coordinated."  But surprisingly as I put on my running clothes that girl gets quiet and some mornings when I am really excited about a nice run you can hear her with a much quieter voice than mine saying, "let's do this."  I hope to keep running.  I have found that I truly love it, and I hope one day that girl is the loudest one cheering when I cross the finish line at a race.  That would be a new kind of PR for me.