I Came to Run

Happy Presidents’ Day to all!  I hope everyone had a happy Monday (at least as far as Mondays go, anyway)?  I, for one, know that my Mondays are always made better by the fact that they mean a new Embrace:Me post!  Tonight’s post comes from Katie, whose Mini-Goal Mondays have inspired me to think a little bit more about what I’m doing throughout the week, and whose determination and passion for running and a healthy lifestyle are motivating and infectious.

I love my body.

I’m going to say it again because I think that statement is the most important thing I have ever said.

I love my body.

It’s taken me a very long time to find the strength to say that statement. To be completely honest, I still struggle to believe it.

In the past, I used and abused my body. I was obese. When I decided to get healthy, I became obsessive which lead to anorexia. I always wanted more from my body while treating it like crap. There was nothing my body could do that would make me happy.

Then I found an identity outside of obesity and anorexia.

I am a runner.

Running has transformed my relationship with my body (even more than months of therapy). It is only through running that I have learned to truly love my body.

For me, love is built upon a bunch of other aspects. Running has allowed me to build up those other aspects and quietly, unthinkingly, learn to love my body.

Trust

I have learned to trust my body.

My body is stronger than I have ever given it credit for. Running showed me just how strong my body really is.

When I woke up recently for a long run, all I could think about was failure. There was no way I could run twenty miles.

I laced up my sneakers anyway. My body is amazing. It’s gotten me through training up to that point. It deserved my trust and faith.

Three hours, fifteen minutes, and fourteen seconds after my first step, I heard my Garmin chirp. I looked down. I ran twenty miles.

Listen

Listening was the hardest skill for me to develop when it came to my relationship with my body.

Some days, my body is just tired.

It doesn’t want to run.

I routinely ignored what my body was telling me. I kept pushing it, ignoring everything it was telling me. Then my body hit back.

I struggled with stress fractures and posterior tibial tendonitis.

It wasn’t until I worked through a few of these injuries that I started to listen.

When I started listening, everything got easier. My bad runs have become few and far between. I don’t feel tired often but when I do, I take it easy for the day.

For all my body does for me, listening to what it is telling me is the least I can do.

Through trusting and listening to my body, I have learned to love my body. My body is amazing. It has allowed me to go from struggling through 90 seconds of running to being able to run twenty miles.

I’m going to say this again, one more time, because it is the only sentence in this entire post that really matters.

I love my body.

Thank you, Katie, for sharing such a powerful story.  To read past contributions or to find out how you can share your story, check out the Embrace:Me page.

Also, in addition to being an Embrace:Me day, today is the first day of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and I want to encourage everyone to do one thing this week that helps to increase awareness of eating disorders.  For ideas about ways to get involved, visit the National Eating Disorders Association.

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