There are a ton of words I would use to describe myself: wife, mother, teacher, sister, daughter, friend, cousin….but, runner? I have “run” in a countless number of 5K’s (even coming in first place in my age group) and eleven half-marathons, and yet I still hesitate when someone asks, “Are you a runner?”.
I realized that I have been running for ten years. Ten years! I thought back to my first run, not race, but run. After teaching all day, my teaching partner, principal, and I went out for a run. They were both runners and somehow they convinced me to join them. I was slow, but I did it. I even agreed to run again the next day. Suddenly, we were signing up for 5K’s and within a year, our first half-marathon.
Today, on my run, I thought about my running life… Running with my husband during his first half-marathon. People telling me that once you have kids, you won’t run again. My first run after having kids. Running with my sister, my running partner. We have crossed a dozen finish lines together. And every time I cry. Is it because we finish together, is it because I see my boys cheering me on as we run by, is it because we’re making ourselves better moms? I don’t know the answer, but I cry. And yet, I still struggle with the answer to the question, “Are you a runner?”.
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