No More Excuses

This morning after I ran 40 minutes on the hottest day of the year so far, I gulped down glass after glass of water at my sink. My mom was in the kitchen at the time eating cheese and crackers (awesome cheese from France!). When I felt like I could walk without passing out, I went and sat at the table to eat some before she ate it all. My mom and I don't talk to each other much, we still have that wall from my early adolescence years in between us, but she will occasionally bring up her insecurities of feeling fat. And of course, I always tell her to run. Let me just say, she's really not even that fat. Especially considering the six kids she gave birth to, she's actually doing quite well. She swims and bikes, but those aren't the same as running. Running is everything anyone needs and it burns a ton of fat. This morning was one of those occasions where she complains about her weight, and I tell her to run.

"But my feet will hurt!" she says. 

I roll my eyes (a knee jerk reaction to almost everything she says). She exasperates me, like anyone else who makes an excuse not to run. She's the type who believes all those "quick-fix" franchises. She buys anti-aging stuff, even though you obviously can't reverse time no matter what, aging is a part of life. She buys diet syrups that you mix with lemon juice and that's all you “eat”; A.K.A., disguised anorexia. Unlike me, she believes anything without even questioning how it works, as long as it's an easy fix.

"Mom seriously, if you want to lose weight you need to run."

"I'm too fat to run anyways, I don't think I could do it."

And that is when I had my little light bulb moment. I remembered a video I had seen a few years back. I grabbed her iPad and googled "fat guy loses weight running" and I found this absolutely inspirational video. It is living proof that anyone with two working legs and determination can run. No matter who you are. I showed it to my mom and she cried (either she has a big heart or no emotional control what-so-ever (probably the latter)). 

Then she uses her feet hurting excuse again. 

That's when I throw my hands in the air and exclaim: "You think his feet didn't hurt?????!"

The truth is - the beautiful, yet ugly to some, truth is: Running hurts. It hurts. It hurts your feet. It hurts you muscles. It hurts your pounding heart. It hurts your lungs. It hurts your tendons and ligaments. It hurts your bones. Running hurts your body. Like anything worth doing it is hard.

But running also heals your soul. It fixes your life. It's not quick. It's not easy. But it is worth it.

The moral of the story is: anyone can run. You can run. Stop the excuses. There are always hundreds of excuses not to do something. Don't be the person who is always finding a reason not to do it, stuck in your head. Stuck in the sidelines of life.

Also, hydrate before you run! Especially on the hot days.

Week 1

Week one! Went well. Except I am DYING every time I run! I only took two weeks off and it's hard for me to do runs that used to be very easy. That just shows how the smallest breaks can make a HUGE difference. I started out taking it nice and easy, 15 minute run. Then 20, then 30, 36 and now I'm up the 40! Which is awesome. I also did one day of elliptical for 30 minutes. It was so hard to breathe! So my little goal right now is to get to a place where I can comfortably run again! I also did a 2 mile race at my old high school, which was way fun!
Keep on running, start easy and build your way up!
(I'm the one in yellow shorts =)

Why I Love Running

Last semester I had to write a poem that was a spin off of a poem by Aurora Levin Morales. It was supposed to be about something I celebrate, so I chose to write about running. I'm quite proud of it and hope you'll enjoy it.

Run

This is my poem in celebration of running.

This is my poem to say out loud,

I’m glad I had trails and shoes.

Glad I had a team and sunshine.

Glad I had freedom.

I am grateful for my brothers.

For Eiger, who was the first to run and the first to love it.

For Quin who made me want to love it,

To all those times he would walk with me to school, walking our bikes rather than riding them

Talking for hours about running and anything else.

I am grateful for my parents.

My dad who worked five days a week to not only sustain, but privilege seven back home.

My mom who wrote the ninety dollar check for me to run on the high school team in loopy cursive.

I am grateful for my team.

My coach who listened, taught, and pushed me every day to become better.

My friends who helped laugh away the pain while sweat rolled down our faces and the cold bit our fingers.

We splashed through rain, trudged through snow, and fought the wind.

We looked out for each other.

Those girls turned the most dreadful moments into the most memorable moments.

There are millions of people who have never understood.

They think running is about numbers, distances, and places.

They think running is about fitness, calories, and fat.

They think running is harsh, tedious, and a punishment.

But running is so much more.

Running is freedom.

This poem is against confinement.

This poem is against numbers.

This poem is against being trapped within yourself.

Running is what freed me from myself.

When I let everyone else define who I was and determine how I felt, I had running.

Running picked me up. 

When you run you learn.

You learn about limits, there are no limits.

You learn about strength, tenacity, and ambition.

You learn about pain, pain is only as real as you make it.

You learn to love.

To love the crinkle of paper as you pull out a fresh pair of shoes, taking in the smell, imagining how they will hug your feet during the miles to come.

To love the crowd that is a giant mass of sound,

The thrill of showing everyone you can do the unimaginable.

To love the dirt path crunching under you while the hot sun blinds your eyes, and maybe for just a moment you’ll pause.

To hear the silence.

To feel the silence.

 As it moves in the grass and the trees.

This is a poem to say be liberated.

Let your soles pound the ground,

While your heart pounds your soul.

Let the wind fill your lungs.

Let every worry, every stress, every tear, lift and float away like balloons behind you.

Jealousy, anger, grief, blame, doubt, embarrassment, shame, words, insecurity, and pain,

All of it floating away.

Understand I know exactly what I got.

Heavy square black boots strapped to my feet two years in a row.

X-rays, bone scans, blood tests, evaluations.

The raised eyebrow when I said “No, I do not have an eating disorder” to the fifth doctor that week.

My mother telling me to swim, "you never got injured swimming".

I will not stop running.

No matter how many times my bones bend and splinter apart into a jagged line in black and white.

No matter how many times I pass out and wake up by the road with bruises on my face and my teeth chipped.

No matter how many times every ounce of stomach acid is purged out of my body at the finish line.

No matter how many times the doctor threatens me with cancer, insisting I imprison myself with pills.

I will not give up my freedom.

I intend to run.            

Hello! My name is Elysia and I decided to start a blog about running. . .  and other exercise stuff. Mostly because last summer, I didn't train at all and I need something to keep me motivated and going! But also because I like to think people care about my life. Yeah!

I've been running since my freshman year of high school. I used to swim competitively from age 8 till last fall, but I decided to run in college instead of swim because I love running so much! I've competed at the high school state level 9 times if you combine cross country, track, and swimming. I just finished up my freshman year as a collegiate runner. It was the best thing ever.

I believe that everyone with two working legs can and should run. It is so much more than what people perceive it to be. It is not a punishment, it is not torture, it is not just some form of exercise. To me running is freedom. I love everything about it, even though sometimes it really hurts and really sucks.

I understand that we are all at different capabilities and levels, but I strongly encourage you to follow me as I train in running. And also attempt to make myself look really darn good. Modify workouts if you need to, just get out there! I will start off gradual and easy because of previous injuries I want to prevent the best I can. Right now I'm on my little 1 to 2 week break. I will also be cross training a few times a week instead of running, again to try to prevent injury.

Lets do it!

=)