Running (post 1 of 3)

Due to having about 12 days of feeling awesome, I haven’t written much on the blog. Seriously, who wants to be sitting here doing this when I feel great? In that time a few things have happened so I thought I would separate out the posts a little.

I started my running clinic on Aug 3. The clinic was specifically for Breast Cancer survivors, so while I was a bit nervous, I thought the people there could definitely relate so if I was running too slow or stopped to walk, they would get it.

There are about 10 women in the group, maybe 15. Our first session we learned how to buy the proper shoes and then headed out for a run. During the lesson portion of the evening, I was starting to get antsy…I just wanted to get outside and run. Part of it was because I like running, part of it is because I am impatient, and part of it was because I was nervous/anxious/scared and feeling like I wanted to cry – I didn’t, but I wanted to so I thought running would make those feelings go away.

A lot of the ladies in the group knew each other. Some had done the clinic before, some knew each other from treatment or other support-type groups around town. I was definitely the youngest, but there were a few women who were around the 4 or 5 year ‘past treatment’ and cancer-free mark, who looked to be mid-40s.

There was also this one woman there who is my new hero. She is around 60 or 65…I have a hard time guessing. She ran and talked with people the whole way. She was fun, nice, caring, and definitely was looking out for me. Her fun red glasses and funky hairstyle definitely make her look younger – but she told me she was going through treatment 23 years ago, so I am guessing she’s around age 60. What an inspiration!

I managed to get through the run and felt okay. I chatted with a few of the ladies and they all are really nice. Since then I have attended another lesson and run session and it went well. Cayley and I have been running as well and have gotten in 5 runs in addition to my group sessions. And I am up to 3 minutes of running and 1 of walking – only for about 23 minutes in total, but hey, it’s progress right?!