A Wee Bit of Wisdom

I started working out daily again this week.  I got too poor there for awhile and had to put the gym membership on hold and, I guess, got bummed out in general about that.  I came up with excuses not to go for outdoor runs (which is really stupid because I prefer them anyway) and ended up taking too long of a break.  See, the problem is, every time I take a break from running I have to begin again - at least to a certain extent.  That might end up being short runs, but usually I try to go for longer run/walks until I can run the whole way.  Nowadays, however, it ain't that simple.  My stupid foot doesn't like walking long distances and my left knee has decided to turn on me on stairs (or squats).  I suppose it's all part of aging?  (Though my podiatrist claims it's part of running most all of my adult life, but what does he know?)  The funny thing is that nothing hurts when I run.  Not my foot, not my knee.  While I'm running, I'm pain free.  Even afterwards, my foot may bark in the wrong pair of shoes but my knee actually stays happy.  So a break from running actually makes me feel worse.  Now, finally, my brain kicked in (a rare thing) and I decided I had to get the running back on. 

Dia and I have this thing where I write out our 'to do' list for the day and draw little pictures of what we have to do next to the words.  She loves to cross off when we've done them - and she knows which ones to cross off from the pictures.  So everything from chores to playing Hungry-Hungry Hippo go on there.  For the past few days "work-out" has been on the list with a little drawing of a TV and me (sort of) on a mat (sort of) in front of the TV.  It's totally cool because she's all on board with this whole thing and so, every day, we're in front of the TV doing some work out video thanks to On Demand's Fitness TV.  I explained to Dia that I needed to get back in shape generally, but mostly so I could run again.

So today she said something about me being a runner.  I don't remember exactly what elicited it.  I think I went down the stairs faster than her or something and she attributed it to that.  Anyway, my response was "Well, I'm not really a runner right now."

Know what she said to that?  She said:

"You can stop doing what you are for awhile, but you can never stop being what you are."

Wow, child.  Just wow.