Every day I run.
I run from my thoughts. I run from my fears. I run from my temptations.
I run for my hopes. I run for my dreams. I run for my aspirations.
These legs are made for running, and that's just what they'll do.
It was my freshman year of high school when I started running. I joined the track team more for the purpose of forcing myself to workout more than anything else. In the beginning it was awful. I could barely run once around the track without being out of breath. This is when I decided I needed to practice. Every day I would come home from school and I would run. It started with small goals such as running one full road in my neighborhood. Then it would increase to running two full roads, to three, to four, to the entire neighborhood (one and a half miles) without stopping. Through these couple of months I found my new love.
In high school I, like many others, became aware and very self conscious of my physical appearance, which followed with my desire to stay slim. Going to the gym was a daily activity where I would do a mixture of workouts involving weights, ellipticals, etc. But the one thing that was never just for staying slim was running. I didn't dread running, I looked forward to it. In fact I dreaded the days I didn't run. I didn't run to be skinny. I ran to be sane.
Running quickly became my outlet. It was the one thing in my life that I could (most of the time) control. When I'm on the road, my feet pounding the pavement one step at a time, my breath getting heavier, my heart racing, I feel free. Nothing and no one can catch me here. It's just me, my music, and my thoughts. Sometimes I think about the stressors of the day, and sometimes I just run so hard that I can think of nothing, just focus on telling myself to keep going. The best part of it is that it's completely up to me.
Nine years later and I can't even imagine a time in my life that I didn't run. After having several minor injuries putting me out of my ability to run for short periods of time, I became well aware of how big of an impact running has on my life. Every day I thank God for not only my ability to run, but also my desire. It may seem like something little, but to us runners, it is something great.
