Me? A runner?

I've always been fascinated by those who run.

Back in high school, during field hockey practice, I hated running laps around the field, the suicide drills to increase speed, the cool down jog at the end of practice. I still remember one practice, my senior year, somehow I made it ahead of the pack. In front of all the girls who were faster than me. And I finished the warm up laps first. I was exhilarated. After the season ended, so did my running, for a time.

In college, I decided to go out for the track team. I considered myself to be fairly fast and thought I'd make a good sprinter. I wound up on crutches my first semester due to patellar-femoral syndrome, and after the first week of practice in the spring, it flared up. I decided that maybe track wasn't my thing. In the remaining years, I watched all the lacrosse players taking long runs before the season, the track teammates looking long and lean. Finally, senior year arrived. I had a burst of motivation one beautiful September day and went to the gym. On my way, I ran into Coach Medina. I felt a wave of embarassment flood over me as he walked over.

"Hello, Stacy!" He said, in his unmistakeable and endearing Dominican accent. "Come run with us again!"

I don't know what made me do it, but I did. I ran the 55M and the 200M indoor track and the 100M and 200M in outdoor track. Very slowly. But for the first time in my life, I felt like a runner.

And then I graduated.

And put on 15 pounds.

I made feeble attempts here and there to start running again. But I started too quickly...got too discouraged. And quickly quit.

So, here I am, 10 years, two kids, and 30 lbs later. So, am I a runner? Time will tell, but I sure hope so.

What have I done so far? I joined a training program to get ready for the Baltimore Women's Classic on June 22. I've been loosely following that program for a month. When I started, I was gasping for air after 2 minutes. Now I can run a mile without stopping. It is a very slow mile (average pace is approxmately 13 minutes per mile) but running a mile is running a mile whether you are fast or slow.