The Run.

I have never been much of a runner. I remember that when I was a little girl, my dad used to go jogging every morning. When I was about eight or nine years old, I begged my dad to let me go with him on his morning jog. He warned me that he would be going a really long way, and it would be hard for me to keep up, and I would get tired and want to quit. I persisted, and he relented. About half a block down the road, I was exhausted and turned back for home.

Not much has changed since then. I occasionally decide that maybe I'll give running another try. I love the idea of running. It seems like it would be fun, I just usually get halfway down the road and find that there is a stabbing pain in my side and I can't inhale fast enough to accommodate my lungs' growing need for oxygen, and my new running shoes are burning blisters into my feet and I can't possibly go another step without tumbling to the asphalt in exhaustion, so I decide to turn back for home.

This afternoon I took the kids to my sister's house to play, and she sent me home with a death-by-chocolate cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I couldn't resist the temptation and I ate a billion-calorie slice. With the guilt of my indulgence weighing on my conscience, I laced up my sneakers, borrowed my husband's iPod, and headed out the door.

I proceeded onto the paved golf cart path that surrounds our subdivision. The grass still wet from today's April showers, and the evening air crisp with the fresh scent of rain, I started to run. I wound past a quiet cove of the Lake and startled a group of deer grazing on the green. It was invigorating. I ran until I had circled the golf course and was back at the gate of my subdivision. The evening shadows were growing longer, yet I didn't want to stop...so I didn't.

I kept on running. I ran around the subdivision, and finally, as the sky was darkening, I returned to my home. What an experience! I'm sure that things will most likely change tomorrow when I wake up with aching knees and throbbing shins, but for tonight, I am a runner.