My New Year’s resolution in 2014 was to get healthy. Revolutionary, right?
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, and finished my last radiation treatment in October of that year. Walking the fifty yards from the parking lot to my office was exhausting and I seriously considered asking my doctor if I qualified for a handicapped parking permit. I was 43, and I hated the thought of feeling like that for the rest of my life.
My physician told me it would take some time before I felt like myself again, and he wasn’t kidding. Eighteen months later, “normal” came creeping back. Slowly.
I was overweight. I had no energy. And I knew if I didn’t do something it would only get worse. I would go for a walk now and then, and eat healthy for a few weeks. But it didn’t stick. Why? Who knows.
Time passed and 2014 rolled around. This was it. I knew that it would take time and that I had to be realistic in my expectations. My husband decided to join me, and we decided to walk one mile three times a week. For the first few weeks, we could only manage 3/4 mile each time. Look out, Boston Marathon!
Slowly, very slowly, we got better. By early spring we were up to 2-3 miles three times a week. One afternoon I saw a post about a 5K at a local elementary school. The entry fee was cheap and it sounded like fun. We decided to sign up.
The week of the run it rained. A lot. I called the race director and asked about getting a refund. I will never forget her reply: “Oh no, honey. We’re running. It will be a mud run. You’ll have a blast.” She’s insane, I thought, as I hung up the phone.
She was right. It was indeed a mud run. Ankle deep, shoe swallowing mud and long stretches with water that was at least knee deep. She was right about us having a blast. We were freezing cold and soaked to the skin when we finished, and it was amazing. We were hooked.
So why start blogging now, four years later? We were crazy enough to run a 10+ mile trail run over the weekend, and there were so many crazy, sarcastic things that went through my head as I stumbled through the woods. Way too much for Facebook or Instagram. I needed to blog.
And here we are – my life in running shoes.
englishmuffinruns.com 