running- a love story

Last Saturday, in a moment of weariness, I made a decision.I was at the track ready to run and I didn't want to.Just didn't. So, from then on, I decided, I would be a walker not a runner and I walked briskly for 30 minutes.I walked the track saddened.Walking, however, seemed so much easier: no 3 hour wait after eating, no deep breathing and long cool down."I bet I will walk more often than I now run, I thought," consoling myself.

As I cooled down from the walk, I thought of the wonderful adventures my New Balances and I have had: running beside a bird happy corn field in Scotland, along a rock studded road in Ireland with a tall tower castle on my left and the roaring ocean to my right.The time I was running in a small shaded park near home and tripped over a kudzu branch.Within seconds my Yellow Lab, who had been way ahead of me, was sitting at my side, comforting me with the only gift he had, slobber on my cheek.Or the run this fall in the Maine woods with two beloved nieces by my side.Shade, soft footing, scent of ocean and pine, laughs as we plodded along.What is a memory like that worth?

Other memories crowd.The six mile gentle down hill road in the Spruceton Valley that ends at the flag pole.Running that with another niece and my husband in the place that my child's heart has loved forever.The race through the woods of Dauset Trails south of here last spring that seemed like playing, for the joy of it.Not to mention medals.(I told you not to mention medals !)

I have been running for almost thirty years and maybe it was time to hang it up.Then I thought of the many injuries in all those years that I have fought through: back spasms, Achilles tendinitis, shin splints..Once, I was sidelined for a year and a half with plantar fasciitis and when a friend said that I would run again, I couldn't picture that foot pain not being there.But when it was healed,  I laced up and started over.I ran 5 minutes, then 8 minutes and on.I thought of that investment in effort and the results in good health that I feel I have acquired.

None of this mental drifting through runners land changed my mind until something truly unexpected happened.

After the walk on the track, I went to get my center pass.At the desk were two ladies that I barely knew.They looked up, smiled and asked how far I had run.I told them that today I became a walker and did 30 minutes.Two big frowns appeared and in unison they said:"No,No,No, You can't do that.We would love to run but can't and we watch you and wish we could.You have to run." Tears came to my eyes and I nodded.In that minute, I became a runner again.