why I run

I have been asked the question, Why do you Run a lot this past year and as some might think it is a quick answer to me it is a large one. When I was a teenager I hated to run. My father at the time was into running marathons and had ran 3 or 4…I thought he was crazy. I never understood how one could run for 26.2 miles and enjoy it…at the time running one mile was like pulling teeth. I remember vividly going on a run with my siblings and my father on a 2.5 mile run and having to stop probably 6 times along the way and ending the run disappointed in myself. I am a person who likes to succeed. I am competitive in nature but more with my self then  with others. I have struggled at times with my self- confidence and tend to be little myself when I should be building myself up. At a young age I didn’t struggle with weight problems…I was active and never wanted to stop. Life started to have struggles along the way though…moments where I didn’t quite know how to handle certain things such as grasping the reality that I had an older sister die before I was born  or having a best friend deal with the struggles of an eating disorder. At the time the only thing I thought would help was to eat…so I did. And through the years that continued whenever hard times came along such as family members dying or having heartbreak.

 I run because it has saved my life; it has restored the hope in myself that I once lost. It has given me the faith to see the person I truly am..there might be injuries  and exhaustion that come along with running half marathons and marathons but it is all worth it.  I run because why not. The best decision I make every day is tying my running shoes on to my feet because if I don’t make the first step than I won’t accomplish the miles ahead of me. We all have obstacles and mountains we have to climb but the only way that we can conquer the struggles ahead of us is to go straight through them. I might not be an expert runner who places at all the races but I am a runner who finishes what she started. Running might be a small thing to some people but to me it is one of the biggest things in my life that will never go away.