I always thought so. But here I am finishing my first half marathon in Nashville in 2008. Since that day, I’ve managed to complete two more. A couple years ago I relocated from Cleveland to Chicago and, shortly thereafter, met a nice fellow who inspired me to embrace strenuous physical activity and stop thinking of it as a chore. He exercised regularly and seemed to do so out of genuine enjoyment and desire to take care of his health, not simply for the sake of vanity. He also did a good job of shushing my inner self-doubting voice. When I said “Maybe I’ll try to run a 5k?”, he responded “Why not go big and try a half-marathon?” Running seemed to be fairly do-able because, well, most of us learned how to do it by the time we’re two years old, right? So as a long, dreary, Chicago winter approached, I impulsively signed myself up to train for a half marathon with the Chicago Area Runner’s Association. Training commenced 3 months later, prior to which I had not run an inch beyond 1 mile without stopping for a break. The night before the first 7am, four-mile training run I was on the verge of tears. Absolutely CERTAIN I could not run four miles and would end up bailing on my training crew. Fast forward 24 hours and I was hyper with excitement over the ease at which I had run those four miles. And thanks to my group’s swell pace leader, Chuck Aron, that chilly run was, dare I say, enjoyable. Ever since I started running my confidence and state of mind improved, and so did my health. My “good cholesterol” levels improved and my “bad cholesterol” levels went down. And the only thing I did differently (because I’ve always eaten a fairly healthy diet) was run.
This photo provides a little self-inspiration when I’m confronted with the all-too-frequent lulls in my exercise routine. The lulls that result when my life’s responsibilities intensify and I push exercise to the bottom of my priority list. I’m experiencing one right now. The day just feels too short. I can’t squeeze in a trip to the gym. And without fail I’m a restless malcontent, once again reminded that exercise is not expendable. This photo reminds me of how utterly awesome I felt after crossing that finish line and accomplishing something I previously thought impossible. That moment has a firm spot in my top 5 greatest of all time, right next to scrubbing in to the operating room to watch a major surgery (full of intestines, blood and gore), jumping out of a rusty, rickety airplane with my friend Lori amidst the mountains of southern Arizona, and the birth of the angelic Will Hyatt, the son of my dear friend Jenny. I proved to myself that Ican run, and therefore I can do more than my mind often tells me, and that awareness has influenced other aspects of my life in countless ways ever since.