One Day I'll Learn

One day I will learn that my body is not meant to run.

When I was in high school there were several girls that I would watch in amazement as they ran. Playing soccer, an older girl looked simply like a gazelle -- she had incredibly long legs and just floated down the soccer field in a blink of an eye.

I watched my friend Laurie run 20 miles an hour on a treadmill. She looked like she was jogging. She asked to try 21, but our acceleration trainers wouldn't let her. As for me, I almost wiped out at 16 --- my feet went right out from under me because I couldn't keep up.

I tried once to do an overlapping run during a soccer game as Sara, the girl playing the position in front of me, went down the field with the ball. It sounded like a good idea. I remember calling to her, "I'm coming, Sara!" as I kept running, and running, and she just kept getting farther away.

I like to say that I lost all semblance of speed when I was finally diagnosed with the tendinitis my sophomore year, but I really don't think I was ever what someone would consider fast. Short legs, "womanly" body, hips that indicate I'm built to breed, not run.

So why do I keep trying to run? I tried last summer. And I've been working on it again now that the weather is getting nicer (we're not holding our breath that it will STAY nicer, I feel that another blizzard is probably just around the corner).

My newest affliction is very exciting because I have not experienced anything like it before. Yeah, I'm used to the knee pain, the ankles rolling, the burning arches.

But my hips --- yes, those aforementioned breeding hips -- have never hurt me.

Until now.

I've run twice the past two weeks. Each time I can't run on the subsequent day because my left hip flexor hurts so bad that I hobble around like a hunched over old woman. It's very attractive, I assure you.

The first time I thought perhaps I'm just out of shape. Perhaps I'm compensating on my left side for a lingering pain in my right ankle (I fell in a hole walking to the mailbox --- I'm a moron). Perhaps I shouldn't run with the dog, because I hold her leash with my left arm.

But, really, isn't it silly I can't run for 20 minutes without being laid up for a week?

Long live SWIM TO SUMMER, an IU program that will be starting up here. I will sign up to do some number of water-related exercise, and if I complete my goal, I will get a T-SHIRT! I will do almost anything for a t-shirt, so I know this is the program for me! I will keep everyone posted with the trials and tribulations of my Quest for the T-shirt. The program is supposed to start March 23, so we will see. (And, don't worry, DWE will count for some of my exercise time!)

I hope that this works -- especially since I will be posting a little about it on this blog (not ONLY about it, of course. I am not a fitness maven. I have to write about other things!). And, when it is finished, I will show off my T-SHIRT!

I bet you can't wait.