Wrunning

I have coined a new word....wrun. It is my attempt to blend the words "walk" and "run". Wrunning is what I have done the last two mornings. It has surprised me that this shot of motivation has surfaced!

You see, I was exercising fairly regularly until a year or so ago. Then the "spring bug" bit, with its busy schedules and beautiful weather, and I didn't want to continue taking time out of my busy days to go to the gym to pursue my regular workout times. Laziness... not a priority, whatever the reason, by last summer my regular routine was gone, gone, gone.

No worries, right? Come fall, I'll get back at it again. Sure.

Fall came, and my attempts were rather admirable. I met a few times with my workout buddy; bless her heart, she was faithful to call and work my time frame into her schedule as best she could. But I didn't try hard enough...didn't make it a priority, and whatdya know? It just never happened; I was out of sync and becoming more out of shape with every missed exercise opportunity.

By November, when my dad had his stroke, and I consequently started traveling to Florida every month or more, this whole sequence of events got my regular routine in every area of life totally hijacked, and exercise, being probably the lowest thing of importance in my list of how I want to spend my time, totally got axed.

In the back of my mind....always, I knew I'd had to start doing something again sooner or later. Everyone needs proper exercise to enjoy the highest level of good health, but I also have heart abnormalities which are totally fine unless I allow myself to get out of shape, then I start getting unwanted symptoms. To this point, thankfully, those symptoms have not surfaced. But always lurking is the question - when will I have neglected my health long enough to bring the symptoms back? Not a positive thought...

So it's time to do something about it; long past time.

Enter yesterday morning: Fridays are usually a free day for me, and my calendar was clear. Sometime after 8:00, after I had been up about an hour, the thought occurred to me that it might be a good morning to take the dog and go out, down the path by our house and enjoy the beautiful morning.

And I didn't want to just walk. Walking has great benefits, no doubt about it; it's been proven. But I've always been one of those runner wannabees. But yet, I can't hack it....I feel like a total wimp when I run, like I'm totally going to cave in. It's not pretty. So I thought - how about mixing it up - running, walking, running, walking, etc? So I did.

And it was a great experience for both my dog, Jake, and me! We had a wonderful time! I felt SO GOOD after doing it! Ah! All those endorphins were kicked into high gear, and I thought "this could be a great thing to work into my routine". It took less time than driving to the gym, gave me a great workout, and I was able to enjoy the closeup views of God's creation along the way in the beautiful spring colors of the varieties of trees, very green grass and blooming flowers.

So I planned to go again this morning, Saturday.
However, I woke up and it was raining... a lot....boo hoo. So much for my good intentions...

So I waited. And the rain stopped.
And I wran - again. And I am pleased with myself for doing so.

Jake didn't go 'cause I didn't want to bring back a dirty dog.
This time is was admittedly, more fast-walking than running.
I didn't love it so much this time. :)
But I still feel better because I went.
I did it.
And I want to do it again.....not every day most likely. But as I can, I will make it a priority. In addition to changes I've implemented in my eating habits to become more healthy over the past year or more, it's good for me to take care of myself and this is one way I can.

So here's to wrunning!