You Know You're a Runner When....

The other day I realized that I have been seriously running and racing for over 8 years. Man, that seems like a really long time. As a kid who tagged along to her brothers' countless soccer games and practices, hunting for spare change under the bleachers and reading books waiting for the games to be over, I remember being jealous that my brothers' had a "thing". In college I remember having a conversation with my friend lamenting my lack of a niche. Well, since that conversation I have proudly been able to call myself a runner, and I could not be more proud of that title.

On that note, I had a list of "You Know You're a Runner When..." sent to me today, and I decided to make my own version:

You Know You're a Runner When.....

.....You willingly wake up early on weekend mornings to run.

.....You have an enormous collection of safety pins scattered around your house, car, purse, etc. You never know when you'll need to fasten a bib to your clothes!

.....You schedule vacations around races. Disney Half Marathon! Plus, I'm googling races every time I book other vacations too!

......You're always hungry. And I mean always. Seriously, I could eat two 'Gotta Have It' sizes at Coldstone Creamery and still be hungry.

Feed me Seymore!

......You've run thru fire alarms. I'll leave when I see flames.

......You've become an expert on different injuries and ailments...And freely diagnose other runners and yourself.

.....You've named your Garmin. Mine's George.

.....You have black toes. If you have any toenails at all.

.....You get great enjoyment out of grossing others out with your mangled feet.

....You know the location of every water fountain in your neighborhood.

....You know the exact distance of one lap around your block. .22!

....You're a wiz at converting miles to kilometers. 9 miles = 15k!

....Your constantly judging terrain on your travels for suitable running paths. Flat. Must be flat.

....Your favorite pictures of yourself are when you're running...Not that you can find non-running pictures of you...

....You've slept in your running clothes the night before morning runs. That's like 3 extra min of sleep!

....You turn into an absolute monster when you miss a run. Seriously, just don't even talk to me on those days.

....You've run with a fever, flu, cold, nausea, injury, whooping cough, malaria....you get the idea.

....You've named your running routes... like 'Nuthouse Trail', 'Big Boy' or 'Puke Hill'

Puke Hill

.....You feel your most beautiful in your running gear. There were days I swore I wanted to get married in my bra top and shorts.

I think the shoes went smashingly with my dress

And my number one.......

You Know You're a Runner When......You feel most like yourself when you're running.



How about you guys? How do you know you're a runner?

Healing Sucks

I miss running. I miss it as much as insomniacs miss sleep, dieters miss chocolate, Kate Gosselin misses being on TV.

I miss feeling like a rock star when I run. I miss the neighbors gawking at me as I pass their house for the 7^th time in an hour. I miss getting nearly run over by cars in this god-foresaken city with no sidewalks. I miss obsessively checking my pace on my Garmin watch. I miss listening to the songs on the playlist that I only let myself listen to when running (sniffle, its been too long "Dancing With Myself"). But most of all, I just miss feeling like myself.



See how happy I am

 
Over the past 12 years, running has slowly become part of who I am, a huge portion of how I define myself. Without it, I feel a bit lost. One skipped run, and I feel like a fraud. Like one skipped run should  strip me of my title of ‘runner’.

Luckily, with this latest injury, I have been able to ride the bike. Much as I hate it, that little bike has been my savior. If I didn’t have some outlet for my cardio, I’d be a complete basket case by now. While I know biking is definitely not the same as running,  the damage to my speed and stamina should be minimal when this is over. To get my biking to equal my running, I’ve been riding until I get to 800 calories, which is what I burn in my typical 9 mile run. Tricky business since there is the obligatory gym sign of ’30 Minute Limit Per Machine.’ (My trick? Resetting my bike every 30 minutes…or just coming to the gym after 6 when no one’s there).

Except for Theresas

But, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t feel pain just walking any more and I’m planning my first run to be on my beautiful Towpath next weekend. If taking 2 weeks off for my honeymoon (where I did nothing but sit on the beach) didn’t hurt my running, 3 weeks off with the bike should be no sweat.  And I can NOT wait to get back!

And neither can my car, because I sweat 1,000 times more on the bike.




So much for that new car smell