ready to run

This weekend, along with 15,000 other fierce and determined runners, I will be pushing my way through the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon with a goal of getting to the end. It will be my second time running a half marathon and while my speed may not be my strength, I will certainly be giving it my all as I lace up my shoes and hit the pavement for 21 kilometers of jogging joy. And I may not have followed my training program to the letter (it's hard to get out running when the couch is calling your name!) but I am ready to see how fast my legs will carry me throughout the streets of downtown Victoria.
I wouldn’t call myself a runner by any means but I can now say, after several years, that I truly enjoy running. That’s something I never thought I’d say, especially growing up with a mother who is most definitely a runner, having completed 23 marathons and countless other races, but my attitude towards the activity has certainly changed. We always joked that my mom was crazy, running for hours only to end up where she started…taking the car seemed much more efficient. But now that I’m one of those crazies, I find myself at peace when I hit the trails or the treadmill and the fact that I’m running in circles (or nowhere at all!) doesn’t seem so silly. It clears my head, activates my endorphins and continues to keep me healthy. And while my motivation to get going isn’t always there, once I’m out and about and jogging through the streets, I’m happy. My face may not show it as it goes bright red and I huff and puff and look as though I might blow my house down but there is something so satisfying about setting out to run a certain distance and completing that goal. And while this Sunday’s goal of completing 13 miles is one of my more ambitious objectives, I hope to get through it knowing that that sense of satisfaction will be waiting for me at the finish line.

Do you exercise? Or run? What do you do to stay in shape?
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