Reality Check

Its a depressing thing when I realize that its now May and I have done very little running over the last few months. In my defense I can only say "Life happened." Despite my best intentions and my best efforts, life became very crazy and hectic for a while. First my son became very sick with pnemonia for a month, my daushound who is my best buddy hurt his back and we were afraid it was the end for him, and my job became increasingly stressful and exhausting. I know we've all been there...by the time 8:30 (or whatever your "workout time" is) hits us at night, the kids are in bed (despite the size of tantrum they throw), the dog is laying down and in a medically induced stupor...you kinda want to make a rum and coke for yourself and then just go to bed and melt into the mattress. Thats pretty much what I've been doing. (Minus the rum and coke....most nights.)

But on the flip-side! My son is now healthy, alcoholic beverages no longer hold as much appeal, and my dog is now trained to walk on the treadmill with me. Yes, I said WALK on the treadmill. Thats the other piece of my joyous news...During my son's visit to the Dr., the issue of some recurring knee and ankle pain of mine came up in conversation. My son's Dr. (who is also my Dr.) told me that the reason why my knees and ankles hurt is because I'm running (okay, I kinda knew that) and because I'm overweight. Now here's a quandry! I'm running to LOSE WEIGHT (and reach other goals of running a marathon yada yada yada, but lets be real. I'm striving for that slim, muscular, "runner" figure here) So I'm running to lose weight, because I already know I'm overweight, and now my method of losing weight is causing me pain?! What gives!

After my flabbergasted-ness wore off, I listened to what my Doc had to say. Basically running is a GREAT way to stay healthy, (key word here, "stay") but if you are already overweight the impact of running essentially tears yours limbs apart joint by joint due to the excess weight you're hauling around. She suggested that I continue my exercise routine with walking, yoga, pilates, or some other "non-impact" exercise.

Not going to lie, it hurt a little bit....okay A LOT when my Doc said I was overweight. I know it wasn't any secret, and I had already known this from the beginning...But its completely different when YOUR DOCTOR calls you out on needing to lose a few pounds. She gave me a goal of losing 17 pounds before I continue running. This would place me within the realm of "normal BMI" and thus be safer for my joints and cause me less pain.... outside of the pain running causes anyway. That was 3 weeks ago and I'm proud to say I've lost 7 pounds! (Woo Hoo!) I'm already craving my running...its making me want to push just a little harder and a little bit more to get that excess weight off so I can continue this weird fascination/infatuation of self-inflicted blisters, road rash, sunburn, and listening to the same songs over, and over, and over, and over......

So I'm still here, life does happen, and I'm still running.