Day 5: Running...kinda

Ok I forgot to write yesterday, so you'll get two from me today.

One of my grand plans in loving my body has been to get my self out on the trails and running.... I ran track for Curtis HS years ago. I wasn't any good at it. In fact, I bordered on horrible. But the track coach was always encouraging and always encouraged me to strive for "personal bests." And slowly, I achieved those for myself.

Since coming back to wanting to be competitive (even if it's only with myself) running has been woefully painful for me. Every time I've tried my gastrocnemius has gotten thrown out of whack in a really a painful way. But I really wanted to run again. I kept trying on the treadmill to no avail. I would last a few seconds and then want to pass out.

I kept promising myself that once the weather was better I'd try to go for a run down at the Conference House. So, yesterday, I decided to give this a shot. I drove over to the park and hopped out, iPhone in hand. I decided that the best way to do this successfully would be to listen to music and to run for 1 song and walk for 1 song. And I managed to do this for about 10 songs, which equaled about 40 minutes of movement. I added it up when I got back to the car and realized that I'd managed 20 minutes of actual jogging time.

Now I'm sure that most people (myself included) can walk faster than I was jogging, but at the same time it felt really good to get my body moving in that way. Of course, I'm now paying for it with my gastrocnemius. But I'll focus on stretching and icing today as a way to work that out. All in all I was proud of myself for jogging- even though that sort of movement felt a lot more challenging than it used to. Of course, the last time I felt it was about 18 years ago.

It gave me more appreciation for my body and my ability to move. Also, while surfing for body love inspirations yesterday I came across this video about Women's Body "types" renamed after artists. Problematic in that even the woman who is supposed to be plus-sized is ...smallish. But still... makes you think a little bit.