TJ North

I am feeling very proud of myself. I have been ‘running’ every second day now for almost three weeks, and after my last July run (day after tomorrow) I will have covered somewhere around 63 km this month, at a pace of approx 9min 17 sec a km. Now I know that is slow. But for me it is a huge accomplishment. And starting this program has been a reality-check because I thought I was a lot stronger and that all that walking over the past couple of years had made more of an impact on my physical fitness than it apparently did.

Interestingly, my family has responded so negatively to this new activity that I find myself thinking of how I can sneak out when I am on the family vacation next week. I don’t want to miss a whole week of training because this is not a habit yet and I am afraid I will stop and not start it back up. But both my mother and my two sisters immediately started with all the reasons why I shouldn’t be running…all versions of ‘you’ll hurt yourself’…’running isn’t really good for you’…’women your age have to be careful’…etc. And I know they won’t stop - one sister especially will be relentless. Ironically, she has embraced exercise and has lost a lot of weight over the last few years.  However she is a controlling, competitive Taurus (I say that with love) and she will not listen to any opinion but her own. So I will have to pack my shoes and my ipod nike thingy and just go when I want to and figure out how to turn up the music real loud if the negativity starts.

Because this feels good.