Running Fearless

I'm signing up to run my first 5k since open heart surgery! It is a small one April 18th to raise money for our local high school band. I'm posting it here to keep me honest!

I started running about five years ago. I bought a jogging stroller strapped my daughter in and hit the pavement. I was hooked almost immediately, interesting, since I do not have an athletic bone in my body, but there is something about getting lost in the sound of my feet hitting the pavement that calms and centers me and keeps me sane.

It has been hard to get back to running. Physically, it has been challenging. When I first got home I couldn't climb the stairs, much less run! Six months later, I can climb the stairs, but am nowhere near the distance or time I was pre-surgery.

The mental part has been more difficult. In spite of being cleared by doctors, of being told "no, your heart is NOT going to explode in your chest," fear of "what could happen" has kept me from doing one of the things I love the most.

In the movie Sex and the City, Charlotte is afraid to run, afraid to jinx all the good things happening in her life, afraid of something bad happening. Carrie tells her, "you run. That is what you do. It is who you are. You can't be afraid to be who you are!" I can relate.

So this week I am not going to be afraid of who I am. I am a runner. I am going to run.