Crazy Casa K: Evolution of a Runner

I wanted to be just like my dad when I was little. I am certain that I started running because my dad was a runner.

I ran in elementary school, middle school and high school. I ran "sprints" until the girls I was competing against ended up being a head taller than me. Then I started running longer distances. By high school I was running cross-country. Now, my father may remember differently, but my memory is that I had to choose one one sport in high school - so cross country it was.

Many a morning was spent running. I can still smell the early morning desert air. I also remember my first high school race. It was horrible. Close to 120 degrees F...running through sand and washes and strange neighborhoods. Most people dropped out, but I, stubbornly, finished the race. Then I got mad at my dad for making me run :) I said I'd never run again. But I did. I ran all four years of high school. Donning lovely running shorts and enduring incredibly hot races and cold morning runs. I'm certain that being captain of the cross country team helped with my college admission...

Once I got to college, I quit running. I didn't run again until just a couple of years ago. I was totally burnt out. I loved going to the gym, took kick boxing and zumba. I rollerbladed, biked, hiked but studiously avoided running.

But now, it's fun again. I took an eleven year hiatus. Not sure if moving back to Southern California made me nostalgic or if it was just time, but I started running again. I entered quite a few 5k's, and I was training for a 10k when I found out that I was pregnant. So I stopped again, vowing to run once A was a little older.

Well, now that A is one, I finally signed up for another 5k. I finally made it out the door to run. I am finally running and not just reading about it. Though I do strongly recommend reading Run Like a Mother for motivation...the authors have great voices and made me feel like I could make this work somehow - working, being a mom, running...

Most days I have no idea how I am going to finish all the things I have to do in a day. How work and home life are going to co-exist and how I will also make A's life better. But when I do manage to find time to run or even walk, I feel better. I may not be able to run as often as I could in high school, but it means more when I do now.

I have come around to enjoying running again. I hope that I can inspire A like my dad inspired me. Maybe one day he'll write about how he wanted to be just like his mom.