Running!

I did it! I finally got up off of my butt and committed myself to start running. I meant to last week. I meant to in April. I meant to start during spring break. I meant to on January first. I meant to last November. I meant to. But I just didn't. Today, that changed.

I have several reasons why I'm running.

Mental health - The proverbial 'They' aren't kidding when they say exercise makes you happy. I will mentally benefit from this because I do suffer from depression. Running in the past, I know I felt very happy. I am hoping this works for me again.

Physical health - I am not the healthiest of people. My weight has been going up and down, but mostly up. I know that running will help maintain my weight, if not decrease it. I am also hoping this will help with pain I have in general. I have scoliosis and deal with back pain and muscle spasms daily. I also have arthritis in my knees. Again, when I ran in the past, I was not suffering any pain. I really don't know how it's possible, but running helped!

Awareness - I am running for my aunt who is battling breast cancer. I dedicated my Color Run in April to her. There are other health concerns I am running for, too. Heart disease, diabetes, and anything else I believe is an important health concern. I want my runs to be charitable, to profit someone who needs it. The Color Run, while a for-profit organization, donates to causes such as the American Heart Association.

Couch to 5K - I walked a 5K four years ago for the local zoo. I didn't participate in any more running events because I was pregnant and life got busy. Once I found out about The Color Run, I signed up to be notified when the registration opened for the local event date. I signed up and participated and had so much fun. Life is still busy but I am making time for running. I signed up for The Color Run in November. Since TheThree-year-old seemed to like the finish party, I plan on taking her with me - especially since her birthday will be right around the corner. It will be like a giant birthday party!

Goals - I have a list of goals I want to complete (it needs to be revised) and I think doing a marathon is on that list. So, shortest of the long-term goals is to participate in more 5Ks. The next goal would be to fully run a 5K. Next would be to run a half marathon. And then the longest long-term running goal would be to run a marathon.

There you go! I hope you're in for the long haul with me!