Learning to Run Again

By Jennifer Roberts

I am a beginning runner. Again. What I mean to say is that I came to running as a beginner: an out-of-shape, sedentary woman who had never run a day in her life, despite having a brother who was an avid runner in high school. The year was 1999 and I had just received a post card for a charity organization that claimed to take people just like me and train us to run a marathon in four months. I was skeptical, but joined, ready for a change. I eventually trained and ran three marathons in three years, my last one in 2002.

I was training for my third race in 2003 when I suddenly found myself uprooted and adrift for five, long years. The sedentary lifestyle crept back in and the weight back on. This year, I re-focused and rejoined Team in Training and began the process all over, as a beginning runner. My body had been abused and neglected for quite some time. My knees, legs, and feet did not immediately remember what this movement was I was asking it to do as I hobbled and wobbled at a 14 minute mile pace on our first training run. I was slightly defeated. Logically, I knew I was starting from ground zero, but deep in my bones, I had hoped the memory of running, of Gu, of salty-sweat staining white on my face, would trigger my body to react with vigor, to pick up where we, my body and I, had left off. No go. Thus, I am a beginning runner. Again.

Being plagued by new health issues (plantar faciitis, back and neck issues) has slowed down my training, but not my desire to get back on track, which culminated in a crazy day of half-running/walking and half-limping/crying at the San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Still, I am back. I have since signed up for a local runners group and lined up a few small races (5k-12k) to regain my stamina, and am targeting a summer marathon (or half) in 2009. I don’t plan on ever obtaining that ‘runner’s body’ one sees on the magazine covers, (even during my highest, intense training my body was average size), but I whole heartily believe that one does not need fit the ideal to enjoy running. Instead, my goals are what they always have been: to begin, and begin, and begin.