A few days ago I realized that it was this time last year that I succumb to the nagging desire to hurl my body through space via my legs: running. I had thought, dreamt and daydreamed about those that could run. While it might have seemed that the next natural conclusion was to just try it out for myself there was at least one major psychological block for me, which was the condition of my body to support the effort.
As previously mentioned in a prior post, I have been living with RA since I was 16 years old. This arthritis has and still does plague many joints in my body, and I have been told by doctors that running would not be the best exercise for me. Not complying with most of their other requests for treatment, I thought why start now. After accepting that the doctors could be wrong, I still had to convince myself that my body would not utterly fail me mid-stride to leave me laying on the ground.
The plan that I came up with was inspired by a 8 week plan by the Mayo clinic to slowly turn a walker into a jogger. The rate at which this would be done was so slow, that I figured I had to at least try it. The recommendation was to start by running 15 seconds and then walk 45 seconds over a 20 minute period, and over time, gradually build up longer spurts of running.
The second part of the plan was to create a course near my home, so I was never all that far away. Should I fall, or otherwise become disabled, I would at least be close enough to home that I could potentially just crawl, which thankfully has never been a necessity. The proximity and general privacy of this path gave me the security to fail. It was also so close and convenient that I had a hard time talking myself out of running the way that one can with getting to the gym.
A few months ago I read an article that was based on a study about runners and their bodies. It stated that the previous held doctrines about the stress of running on the body were incorrect. An average runner that ran a few miles a day was found to actually have stronger joints and longevity than those that did not run, as well as those that ran marathon mileage on a weekly basis. It was proven that running in moderation does not damage one's knees, but actually makes them stronger. This was the redemption that I had psychically knew to be true, which gave me the mental green light on my decision to start running.
This last May in 2012 I ran my first 5K. While I didn't "place," I did accomplish a goal that was an important one for me: to run the whole race and finish with my body intact. I proved something to myself that day, that my body is willing to cooperate with the requests that my mind has imposed, and for me, this is a hugh development after spending the last 13 years of my life trying to figure out why my body was quite literally attacking its self on an cellular level. I am now in training for my first triathlon that will take place this October.
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