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At Peyton's last soccer game the opposing team had the ball and the little girl was kicking to their goal. Peyton was running to catch up with her and I was shouting from the sidelines. (Yes, he's only three, but I want to teach my kids to do their best.) I yelled, "Run faster Peyton!!" It was like when you're playing Mario and he's running along until you hit the B button and all of a sudden he's turbo running. Peyton kicked it up and his little body started charging down the field until he got in front of the girl, I was so proud. Peyton had it in him to run faster, he just needed a little encouragement.
When I was in elementary school we used to chase each other. I thought I was pretty fast, but some of those boys were super fast and they could dodge and change directions and it was disheartening trying to catch them. We had field day at the end of the year and I was always on a relay team, I ran either first or second. I played softball and I usually batted either first or second. I was pretty good about getting on base. But somewhere between elementary school and high school I decided I wasn't fast and I didn't like running.
So over Memorial Day weekend I was reading an article about women and losing weight and the key for all these women was running. I wanted to swear at them:) BUT! I thought, I can try it, cause runners have nice bodies and they are healthy. Here's my confession: I actually am enjoying it. I have been running for almost 3 weeks now and it's not awful. Somewhere in my brain I had told myself I wasn't a good runner and thus equated running with bad feelings.
Remember when you were 3 and the only speed you had was fast? You would run everywhere and it was the best thing. Let yourself be happy when you run. You don't have to be fast or look good. You don't have to race anyone or go a certain distance. Each day don't give up, you can always go a little faster or a littler farther tomorrow. What I like about it is that I get "me" time. I can put my ear buds in and listen to my music not toddler tunes or I can just enjoy the quiet. I don't have to run the entire time, if I walk to catch my breath it's ok, I can start running again in 30 seconds. And I don't have to post about it on Facebook, because I don't need social media to feel good about myself. I use the Run Keeper app to track my distance and how fast I run, but it's just for me. I hope you will go out there and try it, even if you "hate" running.