Against the Wind

Elementary School: Upon completion of the dreaded 1 Mile Run, a teacher looked me square in the face and said, "I can walk it faster than that."

Middle School: Made sports teams. Had no choice but to run every. single. weekday. Oh, the horror.


High School: Same thing. Then, quit because I sucked in a furious rebellion. Then, accidentally made the bowling team my senior year, spent the winter eating cheese fries at Lafayette Lanes, turned into a Chris Farley-esque version of myself, realized the error of my ways and ran every morning until college to undo the damage.

College: I regularly ran - usually outside, by myself. My theory on how I alluded kidnappers: I tend to flail a little lot and make scary, jerky faces, so any potential axe murderer/rapist probably wouldn't have wanted me. After flirting with long distance running (ok. totally not long distance to an actual runner. . .) but with more than a few 14, 15, 16 mile runs under my belt, I could have probably hopped a 5K on one leg with no shoes. Or toenails.. because most of them fell off from the running. Eww.


Milwaukee & Maryland: Gone were the days of hours on a treadmill because I had to do this thing called.. work for money. Weather permitting, I did manage to make it to the gym or run around our super cute neighborhood(s).

18 months ago: Someone chewed me up and spit me out . . . and that very small person was Harper. After 9 months of toting around her little watermelon self, then bringing her into the world, I was spent. Those of you who "bounce right back," bless your hearts. That was not me. Everything hurt and I was so sleep deprived that I got winded and sore walking around the grocery store. I never thought I would ever be the same until..

Yesterday: My name is Courtney, and I have started a Couch to 5K training program. Because like every other 40 year old, I need to take it slowly. Ever the planner, I chose to begin in mid-January (what the..?) and got the weeks confused on my mp3 player . . .so I started on Week 2, instead of Week 1. ((flops on couch, dies))