…I ran.

Well, give or take a few days. But I did run pretty much everyday this last month. With the moving of the Big Top at the beginning of last month, there was nothing else but running for me because my Bob and Jillian dvd’s, weights and yoga mat were all packed away. I had to focus on un-packing the essentials like the dishes, the cookware, the linens the books. Plus every time I walk into my closet and see those boxes containing shoes, boots and fitness related items I manage to find something else that needs to be done.

Okay, fine.

I’m too freakin’ lazy to un-pack my closet and I can be a bit of a procrastinator. There has been always something else I needed to do I would tell myself as I shut my closet door…like work or laundry or running.

Thankfully, my darling husband set up that treadmill of mine right away. He knows me too well. I need to run. According to my Daily Mile log, I have ran over 2000 miles in the last two years. That is crazy-amazing to me. But I have and I am damn proud of that feat.

So yeah, the last 30 days or so I have been running. No, I am not training for any race right now. You need the monies to run races and, well, there is no money for what falls under the wants column of the Big Top’s wants/needs list. It’s okay. Surprisingly, there has been something freeing about running just because I feel like running this last month. There is no training plan…none at all. If I feel like running a mile and nothing more then I run a mile and if I feel like running six or more then I do…if I can. Funny thing is I can and I have, run six miles or more at a time…and I have run only about a mile.

Thank goodness my darling husband set up the treadmill especially with the hot summer days we have had lately and especially because of the crazy day versus night schedule I keep as Vampira, the night shift nurse. I don’t think I could have run as little or as much as I have were it not for that dear old ‘mill.

What can I say…

because…

1. It challenges me to go farther, faster, harder.
2. It is for me, just me…not my husband, not my circus clowns, not for anyone but me.
3. When I run I don’t have anyone to argue with.
4. It gives me the energy to tackle the day…especially when my day is overnight.
5. I have some pretty awesome bling…seven medals and I hope for more to come someday soon.
6. It’s fun. No, really. It is fun!
7. Sometimes running is my only quiet time and my only alone time.
8. It pulled me out of my depressing, anxiety-filled mid-life slump that I was sinking into over two years ago.
9. I can do it alone, with friends or with thousands of strangers.
10. It clears my head of all the stress and worry that fills it up sometimes. Focusing on pace and breathing I can’t dwell on all that garbage.
11. The way I feel when I finish, no matter how hot, sweat-soaked and exhausted I am, is amazing.
12. More than two years ago it was something I never would have imagined that I would do…ever.
13. It makes me smile.
14. I like to eat delicious food.
15. I like to drink delicious wine.
16. I like the idea that my circus clowns can tell people that I run half marathons.
17. I solve so many problems when I run.
18. I release so much…resentments, anger, everything toxic.
19. I like how my ass looks.
20. I like how my legs look.
21. I like how I look in my clothes.
22. I like how I look naked.
23. It daily reminds that I am a super human being.
24. It is the part of my day that I absolutely look forward too.
25. I like the sound of my feet striking the ground.
26. I like the sound of the music that is my running playlist (a long, varied list) and the beat that drives me onward.
27. It makes me powerful and in control of my body and mind.
28. I am addicted to endorphins
29. I am inspired that so many friends of mine started running because I started running.
30. I CAN run

Thirty reasons why to represent the last thirty days (give or take a day here and there) of running. I can’t wait to see what the next thirty days and the days that follow thereafter reveal to me.