something positive...

i am glad i am a runner, no, grateful i am able to run.  sometimes it is true i can not go for a long run or even a short run, sometimes my obligations win.  but i feel the strength in my legs while up running from appt to appt with a baby on my hip, or while weighted down with laptop and 25lbs of camera equipment.  it is a pleasant reminder of the power i possess, and worked hard for.  i feel my thigh muscles laughing and saying ” is that ALL ya’got, i can do this for at least 6 more miles”  I am grateful when i walk by a younger person on the side walk from the parking garage to the convention center who is absolutely winded, and my heart rate isn’t even the least bit raised.  i am grateful that my running is making a impact on my health, my future and my family.

today i was at the children’s hospital for a routine scan and saw women with such sadness and with an age on their faces that can only be had with grief that i am grateful i have never known.  i am grateful that i am not them. i wish i could share with them one small moment of absolute freedom i experience when padding through the woods with my sister, grateful to escape just the small burden of the laundry piled on the floor or the baby who cries just for attention and not from a pain I cannot take away.

i am grateful that sometimes i ache, spasm and cramp at the most inconvenient times. i am grateful that my life is a really long run (if i’m lucky) and that when i started i was unsure, and nervous stumbling along the unknown course that lay ahead, to experience the excitement of realizing that i am full of energy and soaking up all the pleasure of the mid-course, giddy just to be a part of the pack, and most recently that i am learning to handle the hills with patience and enjoy sailing down the other side ( there is always the other side) I am certainly not saying that i am near the finish line, but i am grateful to be off to such a good start.

Zak