I’ve started jogging again.
I took up running maybe a year or so before my 40th birthday, mostly by accident. I was walking the indoor track at our local park center in the winter and honestly just got tired of getting held up by senior citizens, Once I moved into the jogging lane to pass, it wasn’t long before I found myself actually getting some distance going, and before I knew it, I officially graduated from the walking lane for good.
In these last couple of years, I’ve been relegated back to walking, thanks to Gus the Devil Dog. But I miss how my pants fit when I ran for exercise, so I’ve been trying to get Gus to run with me a few yards here and there. The shin splints are back so I know I must be making progress. Pain is beauty, right?
The bug to run has also given me pause to consider these wonderful feet.
If I spend enough time scrolling Facebook, I can sometimes stew in the jealousy that inevitably bubbles up reading about everyone else’s adventures, allowing me to fall into a self-piteous rabbit hole of “I haven’t been anywhere … Wah!”
But then I look at these feet of mine. And think of the places they HAVE been. The places we’ve ran. The times they have carried me through.
These feet have stepped foot in Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, South Dakota, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Indiana, Hawaii … in towns like Honolulu and Lahaina, Philadelphia and Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Seattle, Chatham and Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Kansas City, St. Louis, New York City, Nashville and New Orleans.
They’ve seen two of the Seven Wonders of the World. They’ve been to at least seven ballparks. They’ve been through beautiful botanical gardens, in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and at least two Great Lakes.
They’ve been propped on bleachers at countless soccer, hockey, basketball and baseball games. They’ve withstood my weight cheering at swim meets and band competitions. They put up with my infatuation with jogging, and are closing in, I’m sure, on 1,000+miles walking an 85-lb. crazy ass black lab.
They’ve walked hospital halls and museum malls. They’ve been painted too many colors to mention, but somehow always find their way back to OPI and Pompeii Purple. They’ve worn slippers and stilettos, but are happiest in their 10+-year-old purple Keens.
I’ll never be a shoe model with my Size 9 clodhoppers, but I wouldn’t trade these feet and all the places they’ve been. Gratitude reigns.
Day 1: 50 Days, 50 Thoughts, 50 Books. Book recommendation: The Bitch is Back
Day 2: There Aren’t Any Do-Overs, Are There? Book Recommendation: A Place for Us
Day 3: Is Pop Culture Circling the Drain? Book recommendation: Live from New York
Day 4: Perimenopause in the Age of Trump Book Recommendation: Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Day 5: Take A Knee at the Altar of Common Sense Book Recommendation: How Not to Be a Dick
Day 6: Perspective is the Gift That Keeps on Giving Book Recommendation: A Fine Balance
Day 7: The Accidental Editor Book Recommendation: Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977 – 2002)
Day 8: The First Last of the Firsts Book Recommendation: The Little Book of Hygge
Day 9: All Kinds of Tired Book Recommendation: Believer
Day 10: Overthinking is Anxiety’s Bitchy Best Friend Book Recommendation: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened
Day 11: Where Would You go with a Wayback Machine? Book Recommendation: A Little Life
Day 12: Fall in my Favorite Chicago
Day 13: On Having It All Book Recommendation: Lean In
Day 14: Where Were You When … Book Recommendation: The Nix
Day 15: 5 Things to Purge Before you Turn 50 Book Recommendation: The Art of Tidying Up
Day 16: A Labor Day Salute to Bad Bosses Everywhere Book Recommendation: Steve Jobs
Day 17: Do You Validate? Book Recommendation: Less
Day 18: Identity Crisis Code Purple Book Recommendation: Amp’d
Day 19: Character Really Does Count Book Recommendation: Believer
Day 20: Death Before Public Speaking Book Recommendation: The Gifts of Imperfection
Day 21: 15 Things You Should Do Before You Turn 50 Book Recommendation: Drop Dead Healthy
Day 22: Calling BS on “Sticks and Stones” Book Recommendation: Love Warrior
Today’s recommendation: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to where I once was with running, but I remain full of nothing but gratitude for the miles I have put in. This book was a game changer.
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