My running start

On a comment to a previous post Michelle asked how I got started running so I decided I would write it here.

During Andrea’s pregnancy with Tori she was gestational diabetic and her doctor put her on a 1000 calorie a day diet. I think gerbils eat more. It was torture for both of us (more Andrea than me). After Tori was born Andrea weighed less than before she got pregnant.

As a side note when Andrea was pregnant with Tori she craved Funyuns. Tori has always loved Funyuns, they are her favorite.

A little less than two years later Tori came up to me one evening while I was watching an Astros game. She threw herself in my lap and handed me a note (written for her by her mother) that said “Am I going to have a little brother or a little sister?” Andrea was pregnant again and we were excited. One of the coolest things though was the doctor told Andrea this pregnancy was normal and she could eat what she wanted. “Party!”

I was already heaver than I should be but if Andrea could eat for two I figured I could as well. So I started eating and gaining some serious pounds. Jakeb was born on March 18, 1993 and to celebrate I went to Zumgasthaus and ate one of their mongo steaks. I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life and more than I have since.

In May, after Jakeb was born I decided that enough was enough and stepped out the door of our house in Richwood to run…and lose weight. I barely made it around the block and the shoes I ran in were Reebok tennis shoes. The next day my arches were screaming at me and I almost quit. My vanity wouldn’t let me though.

Like I do with everything I went to the book store and bought a book about running. It told me how to start. I went and bought a cheap pair of New Balance running shoes and marked out a three-mile course. I ran until I was close to being worn out and then I would walk until I recovered. I did that until I could run the whole three miles. I took what seemed like forever.

Then I put my headphones on and turned up King’s X “Faith, Hope, and Love” as loud as it would go and I got to where I was running about 20 miles a week. I lost weight. I trained for my first 5k, which I finished in 25:11, and I’ve never looked back.

I am a runner. I have been a very devoted runner. I’ve been a not so devoted runner. I’ve trained hard and I’ve trained not so hard. I’ve run far and I’ve run short. I’ve been much faster than I am now but I’ve been slower too. I’ve backslidden and not run at all for months. But I’ve never stopped being a runner.

Runner – It isn’t the sole word that defines me, but it is in the definition of who I am.

I started running to lose weight.

I run now because it is a discipline I cannot walk away from. It is epidemic.

I run because I can think.

I run for accomplishment.

I run because it’s something not many other people do. One of those “stand out from the crowd” kind of things. Which is smug, I know.

I run to listen to music.

I run to listen to nature.

I run because sometimes right before first light mexican bats swoop around my head. How else would I even know there were mexican bats in Lake Jackson in the summer time?

I run to listen to silence.

I run because I can.

…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2