But eleven or so years ago, I found a gym and exercise became part of what I wanted and needed to do. It started slow and I learned as I went. I became work-out buddy to a girlfriend of mine and we started walking. We walked at the gym on treadmills. We signed up for all kinds of charity walks and started improving our "race" times. We burned up roads for a couple of years walking.
After we had done that for a while we went to a lunch-time brown bag talk about proper footwear. It turned out most of the talk was about running shoes. My friend decided that both of us needed to start running. Running? I can't run! She insisted that was the way we needed to go. I went along with her.
Luckily, we had a really good trainer at the gym at work. She was patient and took us through the beginning paces we needed to get us going. I remember gasping as I ran one minute, walked one minute, not ever believing I could run a full minute.
My girlfriend started running the charity races we used to walk. It took me longer and she went on to join a running group. I opted out at that point.
Things had changed for me at home. My mom was ill and moved in. She was of the old thinking that exercise wasn't something you set time aside for. I couldn't in good conscience break away to the gym while she was there and admittedly felt a lot of guilt about doing it after she passed. It took me a while to get back, but I did get back to it.
I run quite a bit these days. I run and it relives stress. I run and I get wonderful writing ideas. I run and I think of people I miss. I run and others are proud.
My first work-out buddy went off and has run a marathon. I felt great when I was able to complete a 10K this year.
Exercise is now just one of the things that I want and need to do. I set time aside to get it done.
TT
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