Off N Running!

I'm not a natural runner. I never have been. If you asked me ten years ago if I would consider running a marathon, I would have glanced over my shoulder, thinking you must have been talking to the insane person standing behind me.

Yet, here I am. 27 (28 by the time of the big day) and a runner.

The progression came slowly, through a series of motivations and circumstances. The first time I ran of my own free will as an activity in and of itself (not in conjunction with soccer, for example), was after my freshman year of college. After gaining the usual first year of all you can eat/drink/no parents around weight, I came home depressed. Naturally active and slim as a kid, this was the first time I had to make changes to my routine in response to added pounds. I began running one mile every day.

I hated it.

After other changes, the weight did come off slowly, but the aversion to running remained. I decided to log endless hours on the elliptical instead. Yes, I hated that too, but at least I could read girlie magazines as a distraction.

Over the years, my boredom of the elliptical started to top my remembered aversion to running, and my 35 minutes of cardio slowly transferred over to the treadmill. And when I ran, I RAN. None of this "jogging" crap. 7.0 miles an hour, minimum.

I hated it.

Then, I started to run outside. And I hated it less. While working at a job in Washington DC, I took to going outdoors for the 35 minutes. I learned the back roads of Cleveland and Woodley park. I found amazing architectural gems hidden in the back corners of Observatory Circle.

I hated it less. Much less.

Once outside, running started to become a stress outlet rather than a stress creator. I even had a favorite out-and-back trail that, upon running it for the last time prior to my move to Greensboro, produced a tear or two. I upped the time of my runs until I did one "long" run a week of an hour. Six miles on the average.

Six miles!

Still, I didn't consider myself a "runner," since riding horses remained my primary physical, and professional, activity.

After moving to Greensboro, I saw a weekly Wednesday night trail run schedule hanging up on the BB of my roommate's kitchen, and thought it would be a great way to meet new friends. I went to my first trail run with that intention in mind.

Instead, I fell in love with the trails.

From there, I started to run greater and greater distances, with surprising ease. When someone suggested that I enter an upcoming 8K that a local running store sponsored, I replied that I didn't want to race; I wasn't really a runner.

The guy looked at me and said, "Sophie, hate to break it to you, but you're a runner."

And it's true. I am a runner. And I love running.

One step at at time, though. :)