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Running is My Therapy

 Dear Friends,

If there was one blessing throughout this global pandemic of COVID-19, racism, cissexism, sexism...hell all the -isms, it is the fact that I could go out my front door and run. 

I started running in my mid-twenties. As a child, as a teen, as a young adult, I was not athletic. I danced for a hot minute. I didn't participate in sports and I was terrible in gym classes. Despite all of that, I caught the running bug after watching a great friend crossed the finish line in her first half marathon. 

I thought, "You know what, I think I can do that. I want to do that."

I started slow with trying to run for 5 minutes straight. Then 10 minutes. Fun fact, I thought running was sprinting. So every time I had to run at school, I went full tilt and tired out after 2 minutes. Once I learned to slow myself down, I switched from running based on time to running based on distance.

Fast forward past a handful of 5K's, a couple 10K's, and one half marathon, I'm still running. I'm not running for a race. I'm not running to get faster. I am working on my endurance because I want to add distance. I am running because for 25+ years, I held the belief that I could not run. I run to remind myself that I can do anything I set my mind to.

I also run to expel any excess anxious energy that came with 2020. For example, today I ran an easy 1.5 miles.


It was sunny though a bit chilly. But I did it. I needed to. For this run, I was working out a variety of different things:

  • Imposter Syndrome
  • Frustrations and anger over past conversations
  • Stress over possible future situations or conversations
In truth, I don't really come up with solutions during my runs. Instead, the run helps me burn up that excess anxious energy that fills my mind. In the end, that runners high has me feeling lighter and ready to focus on the day. 

That is all. Thank you.

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