No questions asked running is my favorite thing to do. I have been doing it FOREVER, well since 2nd grade to be exact. If I am getting the story correct I think my track career began after a bad day at gymnastics practice. The instructors had tried to forced me to do a SPLIT! I said enough was enough and made it clear to my mom that gymnastics was NOT the place for me and informed her I would instead prefer to run track. I don't know where I got the idea, but I know soon after that conversation I found myself in an OTIS tracker uniform, and my life from that day forward would never be the same.
Although I never made it to the Olympics, I did have some glory days...
One of those moments was in 6th grade. I walked home with the South Carolina 11-12 year old division 1600m race walking state title! Yep, shear talent. I think I walked a sub 9-minute mile. Pretty impressive. Then, In Junior High, back in the day when they had Junior High, I said goodbye my Rock Hill YMCA track teammates and joined the High School CC team. No state titles here, but my love of running continued. In college I got into marathons, then triathlons. While in Asheville, due to the lack of trials I ran less and biked more, however I kept running.
Here in Sitka I have been on the trials since day one. They are AMAZING, beautiful and right out my back door. I think Sitka's trial system is the BEST in the world. I run nearly everyday, that is until the Chilkoot trial.
I have been injured since the 33 mile trial run 2 1/2 weeks ago. To quote my mother "running the 33 mile trial was dumb," and I don't believe it was necessarily the smartest idea, but it was definitely not dumb. However, I should have been a little more physically ready for sure and because the trial, for me, ended in a stress fracture.
But this 2 1/2 week break has confirmed my love of running. Everyday I stare and mountains and yearn to hit the trials climbing them. It is painful to hear of my friends running adventures. This is the time of year that the trials are free of snow and the sun is still high in the sky until late in the night. It is one of the best times to be on the trials, however I sit, nursing a stress fracture. My doctor says give it 4 weeks, which means I have 1 1/2 to go, and that is the most optimistic time table. So until then I wait. I cancel my spot in the Klondike 110 mile road relay I participated in last year. I play my banjo, dream about future adventures and think about why I run.
I run because it feels good. I run because it gets me outside in the fresh air. I run because that is where I process my day. I run because it is a release and stress reliever. I run because there are awesome trials beside my house and because it keeps me in shape. It keeps me mentally and physically acute. I run because I love it. I hope to be doing it forever.
3 comments:
Em! i'm so sorry to hear that you have a stress fracture! what a bummer..i hope you can run soon.
Emily - Question, did you run competitively in college? Or did you take part in any college sports?
BR, I trained with the triathlon team and was in the snowboarding club, but no, I had burnt out of competitive running by the time I graduated high school.
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