Wednesday Workouts: I like to move it move it...

Running? What is this ridiculousness?  Oh, gosh, I can't even imagine myself running a year ago. I'm pretty sure the only running I would have done was out of complete necessity. Now running is a complete necessity. I can't imagine my life without running. This is how I felt about dance and I felt this emptiness when I stopped dancing. I wouldn't say that hole from dancing is filled because I don't think it ever will be. You see, when you dance for so long and become so passionate about something, you will always feel empty when you think about that thing. Gosh I miss dancing...but that's besides the point.

Y'all this quote from www.runnersworld.com is so me. I still don't know if I would consider myself a runner. My best friend told me after I ran the half marathon, that if I kept running after that, then I was a runner. So...I guess I'm a runner :) I can't begin to explain to you how much I hated running before I started running...hated, loathed...wanted to vomit every time I thought about running. Running was one of those things that I was never good at. It uses totally different muscles than dance and just seemed so boring. And then I started. I realized that it wasn't about being good at it, but it was about disciplining yourself, competing with yourself and telling yourself that you can do it.

My husband thinks I'm crazy, but when you run 'long' distances, you have these crazy conversations in your head. Like when I was running the half marathon, I got really emotional around mile 10 (I had never run farther than 10 miles). I had to literally tell myself over and over that I couldn't get emotional, that I still had 3 more miles to go (I probably used way more profanities than that). I also have these "I think I can, I think I can" moments in my head. I think I can run farther, I think I can run faster...and then it becomes "I know I can."

Running has become therapeutic to me. I find that I have become happier with myself since I started running (I'm not saying that I was this awfully depressed person before). I have found that I am capable of a lot for than I ever thought possible (I know that's cheesy, but it's so true). I'll be the first to tell you that I don't think running is hard (per se). As a dancer, I think dance is way harder (go ahead and throw tomatoes at me). Dance requires way more skills than running. I am 100% positive that marathon runners and elite runners have skills...but it's a little different than dance ;). I guess what I'm saying is that I never thought I would be able to run farther than 2 miles (I never had run farther than 2 miles) and my body proved to me that I could do it. After so many horrible injuries in my life, I never thought I would be able to cross the finish line after running 13.1 miles, but I did.

Cheers to many more runs (and lots more blog posts on running).

Xo,