Going the distance. Going for speed.

My Dad, and several of my lawyer friends, have commented on my running: "I only run if I'm being chased. You're crazy." Today, I started thinking about why I run. It started as a way to lose weight. I read that it burned calories efficiently, and I wanted those pesky little suckers burned off as quickly as possible. Really, though, I got into running because my boyfriend at the time (his days were numbered for many reasons) told me I couldn't.

I remember the moment so vividly - like a mental home movie. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon one weekend in a town outside of Hartford, Connecticut. It had been a sunny, seasonably warm day, but the sun was beginning to set. "M" and I went to the local park for a jog. I was not in good shape at the time, but I figured two miles didn't sound like much, and I would be fine if we took it slow. I huffed and puffed, and probably could have blown down a house with all that exertion, but I barely made it a quarter mile before I had to stop. My chest hurt and my body had completely rebelled against me. M said, "PAF, I knew you would never make it. You're just not athletic. Some people can run, and some people can't." Hah! Nobody, but NOBODY tells me I can't do something. Call it the remnants of childish stubborn antics. To this day, I will try like hell the second someone tells me I can't or won't do something.
A testament to my stubborn nature: the time my law school alma mater put me on the waitlist. Before that, I could have cared less if I went to law school. I just didn't want to get a job. Still, from the moment I got the letter telling me I had been "wait-listed," I vowed to show those people they were wrong. I got in, excelled, racked up about 100K in debt, and now I'm a lawyer. Query who actually showed whom on that one.

Anyhow, when M told me I would never be a runner, I knew then and there that I would be. It took a long time and a truckload of pain and suffering, but running is one of my favorite ways to relax and blow off steam. I ran through law school; I continue to run through being a lawyer; I ran through both my parents' major illnesses; I ran through several romantic break-ups; and I have pushed through several running related injuries. There's a Melissa Etheridge song that sums it up better than I ever could: "I Run for Life." Each time I lace up my sneakers, I do just that.