I really just started to run on a whim, more or less.

I have a neighbor and close friend who is a supreme athlete . She used to play Soccer professionally before having 5 kids and moving to the suburbs. She is still in incredible shape ( chasing after all of those kids helps undoubtedly ) but i knew she was still 'training' to stay fit .
I decided to ask her how she did it.
"I run everyday " she said.
For months now that phrase played itself over and over in my head - like a diabolical mantra.

I initially shrugged it off as something i was neither interested in nor capable of.
Isn't that how all new endeavors begin? A perverse fascination turns into something you actually want to do .

Well , for me anyway that's how it started . I just couldn't shake the image of myself running like the wind - hair flying behind me like some kind of banshee , the wind in my lungs , blood coursing through my tired old veins and a strange kind of calm flowing through my body - the kind i was missing and didn't know how to get back.

So , i would try running. No promises , no regrets.

This time i would take it slow and steady . Start with baby steps and go from there , little by little . Everyday . Just take it nice and easy.

If there is one thing i have learned from being a mother it is that you cannot rush things. Everything worth doing takes time . From giving birth to a fitness regime - it cannot be rushed . You are in for a lot of pain if you think otherwise.

I , being the over-reaching , ever- curious student of life always need to research thoroughly whatever interests me. This simultaneously annoys and/ or impresses everyone who knows me - depending on their mood and disposition.
Be that as it may , it is the way i do things. Always , ad nauseum.

So , i am reading everything i can on running , in the hopes that i will do this the right way ( if there is such a thing ) and avoid injury and failure by doing too much too soon or bad form or whatever. Running apparently is a lot more complicated than just throwing on some shoes and running out the door. I have my work cut out for me.

I have read that to turn an activity into a habit takes approximately 40 days . Anything you do for less time has a likely chance of running its course ( pun intended) and fizzling out . Anyone who knows me can relate to this phenomenon. I try on many of my interests only to leave them abandoned by the roadside after deciding - A > This is not for me , B> I am no good at this , really or C,> i like it ! ok , now what else can i
try?

I am an infamous Queen of the U.F.O. ( unfinished object) and it is something that i am not proud of , but there it is , the truth. In all of its ugly toadness.

So run i will . The question is will i keep at it ?

Stay tuned , folks.

I am going to give it my best shot...