Run, Forrest, Run

I have always told y'all that I am not a fan of running. And by not a fan, I mean, I hate it.  I have never understood, to save my life, why anyone would choose to run unless someone or some thing was chasing them. 

When I picture the perfect world of the Garden of Eden before sin entered into it, I don't envision Adam and Eve lacing up their shoes with some kind of lightweight vine and jogging circles around the Tree of Knowledge.  I picture them sitting around eating Reese's cups and sipping whole milk lattes.

Hey, don't judge me.  You have your Eden; I have mine.

The reality, of course, is that Adam and Eve would have been dining on fresh fruits and veggies and drinking pure water without the use of a filter, but one can dream. ( Reese's weren't invented yet.)

A little over a year ago, I had some health issues which were brought to my attention.  Okay, full disclosure.  The doctor pretty much told me if I didn't do something to be a little more healthy, that I was on a path to a stroke or a heart attack.  Well, he didn't really say that...oh, wait, yes he did.

Up until that point, doctors had always said,"You know you need to lose weight.  Your blood pressure is creeping up.  Your cholesterol is borderline."  They said all those things, and I knew all those things, but it wasn't until someone bluntly and honestly said "All those things are true and this will be you in twenty years if you don't do something about it" that made me think.

If I could choose a word for how that made me feel it be would this one-  UNCOMFORTABLE.

Since I had Daughter, the baby weight didn't really go away and actually kept creeping on.  I went through phases of trying to lose weight and get healthy. I tried everything I knew how, including the crazy protein diet which just made me absolutely hate bacon. Anything that makes you hate bacon is just wrong.

So, with that doctor's blunt encouragement and a whole lot of determination, I decided to get healthy.  The goal was health, not weight loss. I wasn't so much worried about how I looked but I decided that living was much better than the alternative.

I started walking several times a week with a great bunch of ladies who have all become lifetime friends. (One of them already was.)  I started eating better, drinking water, and doing a lot of what Adam and Eve probably did in the garden, except for the fact that I had to get my fresh produce from Albertson's.

I am here to report that I feel much better. My health is better, even though I still have to take medicine.  I am not saying this to be all preachy and tell you to put down that Reese's cup (I had some in my Christmas stocking)but I have changed my mind,at list a little bit, on all the fitness and exercise.

We moved back to Florida and I started walking again.  It is not the same without all my BWBFs (Best Walking Buddies Forever.) I told Hubs that I was bummed and that I needed a challenge.  I started running short distances, as in from one mailbox to the other.

Hubs said,"You should run a 5K. It could be a goal and I will help you."

Let me stop right here and tell you that Hubs has never suggested that I run.  It is like him suggesting that I go to the post office or the library. He knows what I hate doing and what is way out of my comfort zone.  Even in my twenties, I loathed running.  Walking made sense to me.  Walking is pleasant.  Running is not. 

However, in an ironic "Well, I'll be!" moment, I agreed to run a 5K in May with Hubs.

Yes, people.  I choose to run.

Don't get me wrong. I still don't really like it and at the half mile point, I have to imagine a roaring lion lunging toward me from behind the community mailbox to keep going, but when I am finished, I feel great. 

The best part is that when I am done I stop and say to myself, "Hey. What do ya know? I can do this!" (I say this to myself in my head since I can't really breathe at that point.)

Now that it is all over the Internet, I am fully accountable to the one or two of you who read this.  I will keep you posted on my progress. So far, I have gone a little over halfway without collapsing in the road.

5K is a long way to run when you aren't actually being chased by a lion.