Last year, at the age of 40, I began to run. Why? Well, maybe the first clue is easy to spot: I turned 40. It wasn't just that, it was actually a lot of things. Over the past four years, having escaped marriage in to the serenity of divorced life as a single mom (yes I did say serenity), I expected certain goals would be met by my 40th. I really had my dial set for 40, no farther. Four years was plenty of time to heal, recover financially, get the kids settled into this new reality, and who knows - maybe even have a tidy relationship with a boyfriend on the side. For a while, all was falling into place, operating under the power of my own steam, along with the help of others, was really working. Along the way, the shine began to wear off of my acomplishments, my momentum slowed, and life got very - well- 'daily'. Slower than daily actually.
And then I fell down the stairs. In my fuzzy socks hopping down my wooden stairs, turning to pick up a discarded toy, I lost my grip on the floor and twisted at the knee in one unnatural electrically jolting movement while I crashed into the livingroom. It took eight months of ignoring it to get to the point where I realized it wasn't gong to fix itself, and four more to get the surgery I needed. The motivation to move followed quickly on the heals of four weeks on crutches. Physical therapy went well, and I harnessed the momentum toward wellness into a running program.
This spring, I ran in the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids, my first time ever in any kind of race. 21,000 runners were there that morning to participate in one of the races, mine was the 5K. While 5K may not sound far, it is after all only 3.1 miles, it was the longest I had ever run. I was very insecure about how I might perform that day. Would I make it? Would I have to walk? Would every other person pass me? Would I freeze to dealth with forcast rain in the low 40's? None of my fears were valid and after 5 months of training, the race felt like a victory lap. Every step of it.
Am I a runner? Yes. Because I run, and I have found my momentum again.
