Caitlin B Learns to Run

I’m not really the runner type.  Sometimes I think I am.  Like at church camp when I decided that I could run the 3-mile race.  Why, you ask?  I have no clue. I almost died.


You see, I like working out.  Sometimes I don’t make time for it, but I like it. My mom’s a workout superstar, so I have a good role model.  But when I work out, it’s usually something fun, like biking or dancing, or even walking…I love walking.  And lifting weights is no problem.  Running though?  Running is just plain hard for me.  My legs start to burn, and I feel like I can’t go one more step.  So, usually, I stop.

I never felt the need to run.  Week knees run in my family, so I don’t want to add to it.  But then I moved out in the country.  There’s a gym, but it’s housed in a shop building and it’s not really worth it for me to pay for that.  And then, walking isn’t as easy because I don’t live in a neighborhood, so I have to walk along the highway.  But I still do it, because I need to. 

I have a few workout videos, but they get boring after awhile, and we haven’t saved up enough yet for a treadmill or elliptical.  So, I usually walk.  I get a pretty good workout in, because I walk fast, and I walk up a pretty steep hill on the way home.  Only, it just doesn’t push me enough. I want to keep my heart in better shape.


It’s always bothered me that I can’t run.  I don’t want to run all the time, but I want to be able to.  Usually on my walks, once I start going uphill I start running…for about 300 feet.  And then I stop.  It just gets too hard.

The other day I started thinking about how I could push myself more…how I could do so much more if I’d push through the uncomfortable feeling and just keep going. So I did.  I pushed myself harder.  And guess what?  I finally felt that runner’s high you always hear about.  Up until then, I thought it was a myth.  But now I don’t…now I know it’s real.

I didn’t run the whole way, and I didn’t run very fast, but I ran. 

When I got home, my heart was pounding and my face was red.  And I felt good. 


And then I did it again.  And again.  I pushed harder every time. 

No, I don’t want to run all the time.  I don’t want to ruin my knees, and I enjoy just walking too much.  But it’s nice to know I can do it.  It’s nice to feel the wonderful feeling of pushing yourself past your comfort zone.  It’s nice to know that I really can do all things through Christ, my Strength.

And that’s how Caitlin B, the non-runner, learned to run.