I Have Run 5K

This is a huge accomplishment for me.

I have always wanted to be, but never really been an athletic sort of person.

At recess in Elementary school, I would sit by the doors and read - it was always so stinking cold out for playing.

I dropped gym in high school as soon as I was able to (I think the last gym class I took was grade 9).

I always dreamed about being that 6am jogger, in a cute outfit - all matchy-matchy in a ponytail, and smiling as I conquered the physical world before my regular day started.

Ok so I may have run 5K - a handful of times now - but I have never matched my stereotype.

First off, it's really tiring and hard - I am always the slowest in the pack, red as a beet and completely winded by the time I'm done.

But I did it, which is something, I never truly thought I would be able to do.
I had resigned myself to being an nonathletic person, who just couldn't do it.

What I have discovered is mostly that I'm just an uneducated athlete. I never played sports, never rode a bike, never ice skated, never took swimming lessons as a kid, so I never learned how to do these things. And I am always slightly embarrassed to learn as an adult - when everybody else has already mastered the skill.

I thought that meant I was bad at it, because everybody else could already do it, and knew it.
Turns out I am simply new at it, and can be good at things I never thought would be possible for me - if I just have the patience to learn.

That's a big IF - I hate looking and feeling incompetent, and worry about looking silly.

But joining the running room, and learning to Run, has opened me up a little more - I may just come out to a sporty event - even though I've never played before and don't know the rules, and will feel like I look stupid.

So this is not only an accomplishment, but one that has made subtle yet strong changes in my willingness to engage life.