Running Toward Myself

National Running Day -- PART II: 

Age 27:  Running As The Great Liberator

Do You Recognize this Girl? No, the one on the left....

Finally, after six years (give or take a few months), my thyroid levels began to normalize with the help of a wonderful little pill taken once a day. My TSH levels, although never again to be perfect, began to reach a level that allowed them to be managed and, along with that, allowed me to face that impostor in the mirror and say, "You. Fat Lady. You're so gonna pay for what you've done to me!" Okay, that is a lot of false bravado. However, I was able to approach the 100-pound elephant in the room and take it by the tusk. On February 1st, 2002, Operation Get-Charity Back began. I didn't tell anyone.  I'd tried and failed many times before, and I didn't want another disappointing failure to be bandied about by every Tom, Dick, and well, Harry. You know that proverbial crew.

I started small, giving up my beloved Coca-Cola (ironic, isn't it, that now I enjoy visiting The World of Coke several times a year?) and embracing a carb-free diet. I guess you'd say I went all Atkins. And, at the end of the first week I'd lost 11 pounds. At the end of the first month, 20. Eight months later, 63 pounds. A year, thousands of strips of bacon, and hundreds of eggs later, I'd lost 81 pounds. Along about 40 pounds down I started to THINK about running. I had been walking a lot, and it wasn't getting my heart rate up at all. However, I was still overweight....well over 200 pounds.

I was embarrassed to exercise where anyone else could see me, so I'd go to the track at the school where I taught....after dark. I walked and walked and walked, dealing with my own demons and embracing the work that needed to be done to reclaim my life. Then, one fateful night, I ran. Without being forced. Utterly of my own volition, resulting from my desire to be the person I used to be. For me, that was the defining moment. There, in Princeton, Indiana, on a dark high school track in the middle of the summer, I reclaimed my future by taking that first running step in years. Slowly at first....just the ends of the track, walking the straight-aways. Then, eventually, running the straight-aways and walking the end. Then, one lap. Then two. Then three. And...one day, that evil mile that had always mocked me became my goal. And with that goal, a runner was born. I don't even remember how slow that mile was....13:00 minutes? More? Time didn't matter. I was a runner. An athlete, again.

Age 29 - Present: Running as A Lifestyle

Paris, France

Running didn't give me my life back....it gave me a completely new and amazing life. I've met new friends, taken amazing trips around the world, met my husband....all in a small way due to running. I've shed another 20 pounds or so, but only because I've embraced a healthy lifestyle and have been able to manage my Graves Disease effectively. I've run in England and France and Russia and Hawaii and Central Park...places I never even dreamed of visiting let alone running in. I've met so many amazing people and enjoyed so many experiences with those I love and hold dear because of running. No. Running didn't give me my life back. It gave me a new life that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Mont Saint Michele, France

So today, I applaud you....Running. You are a powerful and transforming gift that I wish I'd have accepted much earlier in life instead of continually turning my back on you. Thank you for being there each day, asking me to push my limits and become a fitter, stronger woman. I owe you my life...both literally and figuratively...and I pray I never forget what a wonderfully loyal friend you have been to me.

See you on the run.....

Top of the Rock, NYC

Moscow -- Look at those Missiles!

Yorkshire, England