Friday Happy: Running. Yes, Running.

Here is something I truly thought I would never say: what made me happy this week was running. Weird. I’ve been an ‘in my body’ person my entire life (You know how I feel about dance – by the way, you’re invited to my fifth annual Shyne Like a Star Virtual Dance Party tomorrow!) but anything related to sports or athletics has always been a nu-uh for me. Phys Ed was painful. I didn’t mind the skills. I enjoyed trying to get a basket or volleying a volleyball but I hated sport culture: the competition, the aggression, the elitism. The only time I ever had fun in gym class was once when for some inexplicable reason our teacher, Mrs. Waldhauser, choose me to be captain. I picked all of the other girls who didn’t rock at sports to be on my team. We had a hoot! I still remember how frustrated the other team was that we just laughed and laughed when we missed the ball! Good times!

So why did I start running? Running just seemed so hard, something for athletes, not a grown woman with asthma! But that’s a part of the reason I did it. It seemed like I couldn’t, so I simply knew that I had to. And I truly do want to support my lungs, my circulation and my body to be healthy, strong and ready to rock. I thought about it for a long time and this week, I just did it. When I shared on Twitter and Facebook, I couldn’t believe the amount of enthusiastic encouragement I received. Thank you everyone!

In case you think running might add to your happy too, here are some things that really helped me:

• I am following this Learn to Run program and am finding it awesome. I may take longer to go from one level to the next but that’s totally okay.
• I made a playlist on my iPod that signals me when to change from running to walking. So I have a 5 minute walk song, then a 1 minute run song, then a 4 minute walk song… I don’t have to think. I can just go.
• I love noticing the different markers of where I am at different points in the run. I love noticing that I started my run as I went around a curve in the sidewalk or that a transition came as I arrived at a streetlight. And I look forward to making it all the way home by the end of the 26 minutes!
• I’m surprised to say that having dreamier, slower songs during the running has helped me stay calm and centred as I go. I would have thought upbeat music would have kept me motivated, but I’m digging the mellow tunes for running.
• Hearing people’s stories of how their running improved really makes me trust that the same thing will happen to me. Thank you everyone for sharing your experience!

This is my first week of running and I’ve only been out twice but I’m already connecting to why this will be good for me. I love that it is short, efficient exercise. It’s only a half hour of my day. There’s also the joy of giving my busy brain a break. For 26 minutes, my body gets to be in charge. My mind is still full of thoughts like, “Can I do this?” “What if this is too hard?” “Omg, I can’t make it to the end of this song.”  But weird as it may sound, that still serves as a break from the regular internal dialogue!  The physical benefits of strengthening my heart and lungs are truly the core benefit, but there’s also the confidence that comes with tackling something that you didn’t think you could do and step by step discovering you can.

For this session of The Next Chapter we’re having a mail-around with The Happy Book. Every Friday while the book is in the air, we’re sharing our happy. Everyone’s welcome to join in. Come on over and share what made you happy this week.

Tagged as: our bodies

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