Every athlete (elite or weekend warrior) has that moment when his or her sport becomes an identifier of how he or she is. The moment where they truly become their sport. I am a runner. I am a swimmer. I am an athlete. Often times, this moment will happen many times throughout an athlete's life. Any number of things can trigger this moment. It could be when you cross they finish line of a race or when the gun goes off spurring you to dive off a starting block into frigid water. It could be when you choose to strap the kids into the jogging stroller because you can't find a babysitter for two hours while you go for a 10 mile run that is much needed after the day you had. These moments happen to every athlete no matter what sport they have chosen to call their own.
I can honestly say that I am a runner.
When I first started running regularly on Feb. 1st of this year, I would have never said that about myself. I felt like the chubby, awkward girl just trying to run a mile while all of the the other "runner" starred and laughed at me. I spent the first month of my 5K training program only running on the treadmill because I was afraid I would draw too much attention to myself if I ran outside. I also didn't have the right clothing and images of other women without the proper attire streamed through my head. My boyfriend finally convinced me that if I were serious about this I would have to face my insecurities and ignore everyone around me because I am doing this for no one else but me. Let me tell you that it took a lot of convincing but I finally got the message. I spent the second month of my training program running outside unless it was raining. Even after all of that, I still didn't consider myself a runner. I was only doing it to supplement my weight loss. Finally it was the day of my very first race. I was so nervous in the crowd at the starting line. Throughout the entire race, I kept thinking that I was crazy for doing this. But then the finish line came into view and I saw my boyfriend waiting there looking for me. That's when I had my very first moment of clarity. It was at that moment that I said to myself "I am a runner" and my foot hit the timing pad at the finish line. Ever since that moment I have not gone one week without running at least 3 times (except that one week when I had such a chest cold that I couldn't walk five feet without coughing). I have also signed up for many more races.
My second moment of clarity did not come when I crossed the finish line of my second race. It actually happened this week and in a rather strange way. My boyfriend suggested that we should go visit his mother for July 4th. His mother lives in North Carolina and is less than two hours from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I knew that he would want to go swimming in some waterfalls and stay on the Tennessee side of the park, which means that we are going to need a hotel. That area of the country is one of my absolute favorites so I got really excited about the potential of doing some of my training runs through the park. I didn't think about where we would stay, what we would do, or even what we would eat ... I thought about where I would do my training runs. That was clue number one. After we decide we were going to take this vacation, my boyfriend called his mom to confirm while I got on my computer to do research. Before I started running, I would check out all the possible hotels to find the best price but I didn't do that this time. Instead, I actually went to active.com and searched for a race that I could participate in while we were up there. I found one by the way. I was so excited that when he got off the phone he actually thought that I had found a hotel. He laughed and shook his head at me and almost called me crazy (I saw the thought cross his face but he didn't say it out loud). What can I say? I am a runner!
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