The Key

The cool, crisp air slipped past my skin as footsteps fell on crushed gravel paths. No music, no TV, no small child climbing me like a jungle gym. Everything was simplified.

One foot in front of the other.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Pray for the timer to beep so the torture can stop for a minute and this out of shape, no endurance “wanna be” runner can gasp for air and come to her senses.

I’m tempted to give up on running. I really don’t like it, I’m actually pretty awful at it, and I’m slower than a snail stuck in gum. When I was looking for a good beginner running app in the iTunes store, I settled on C25K (“couch to 5k”) simply because they didn’t offer one called “Nutella and Sweatpants to 5K.”

I’m really not sure what part of my brain thought that meeting a good friend – who happens to love running, is running a half marathon, and has been running for years – for a nice short run on our local rail – to –trail was a smart idea. She was gracious. She ran slowly. She waved to other runners and chatted and made it look easy and part of me hated her for it while the other part was completely envious. She encouraged me every step of the way, gave me tips & made me laugh. She didn’t mind that I was breathing like Darth Vader for the 3 minutes of running.

Read the rest over at Allume today and find out what valuable life lesson I learned. I promise there is a life lesson. Pinky swear.