I Was Running!

One of my favorite movies ever is "Forrest Gump".  I love everything about that movie;  the actors in it, the soundtrack, the way it moves through the different decades.  What I love most about it though is the movie's resounding theme...running.  In fact, my favorite line from the movie is, "From that day on everywhere I went, I was running!"  I just love how he says it.  You can tell Forrest loved to run.  Now, I'm nowhere near the runner he was, but I do understand his love for it.  I understand his excitement when he got a new pair of running shoes from Jenny.  I understand how he had the urge to run to nowhere in particular.  I had that urge today, tonight actually, about 8:00 pm.  I have taken a long break from running, due to housing a human being in my tummy for 38 weeks.  I knew getting back into it would be tough, after all I am lugging around a little extra weight since the last time I laced up my Nikes, but I was determined to do it anyway.  I've been telling myself that I'd start today, but today always turned into tomorrow and then before I knew it, two months passed since having Anne Claire.  I couldn't think of any more excuses tonight, so I changed into my (snug) running t-shirt and my (even snugger) running shorts and got out the door.  I began slowly, mainly because I wasn't sure if I'd remember how to run.  Then I began to hit my stride, a painful, shallow-breathing stride, but a stride nonetheless.  I sped up, realized that was a mistake, and slowed my pace a little.  It was getting darker by the minute, and for a moment I thought that running this late was a bad decision.  That passed when I realized I had forgotten, shall I say, a particular undergarment that ladies should wear whilst doing any sort of strenuous activity.  Darkness in that capacity had become my friend :)  I gave myself little milestones like, "Just get to the yield sign and you can walk for thirty seconds."  Then I would give myself a little mental "high-five," and say "Way to rock it out, you super-athlete, you!"  Okay, the second part is untrue, but I may try that next time.  By the time I reached my house, I was sweating (sorry Mom, glistening) and I felt like my lungs were about to explode.  I staggered through the front door and Allison said, "Mom, what happened?"  All I could spew out was, "Uhhhgghhhhh."  I sat down and felt my lungs fill back up with oxygen and downed a bottle of water.  Despite the side cramps and charlie horse I could feel developing in my leg, I felt awesome.  Sure, I may be able to speak in only one syllable words for the next 12 hours, but it was totally worth it.