I started running in 2017.
I had just moved across the street from a good friend of mine. She was a runner and asked if I wanted to join her a few times a week.
I could not run. Well, I believed I couldn’t run. I had started and stopped a few times in high school and college, never making it over 2 miles.
She said we could go slow. And we did. We started with laps around a pond by my apartment. Three laps to start. First, we ran the short parts and walked the long parts. Then, we switched it. Then, just walked one short part.
Once I could make it 4 laps without walking, we started running to the W&OD. We’d run a mile there, a mile down, then turn around.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, we’d run a 3 mile out and back around the neighborhood. Every Saturday, we’d get a bit further down the W&OD.
Soon, our long runs were 7 miles. Soon, I could go on a long run by myself and I wouldn’t give up 2 miles in. Soon, I was training to run a half marathon. Soon, I was running 10 miles without stopping.
But, I wasn’t a Runner.
When my friend told me she was pregnant and wasn’t feeling well enough to go on our longer runs, I looked up running groups. I never joined one though.
Those were for Runners.
I wasn’t a Runner.
I just ran three times a week. I could just run 10 miles. I just ran a half marathon.
But, I wasn’t a Runner.
Now, looking back, I know I was a Runner. I didn’t call myself one because I was scared that if I did, someone else (someone better than me) would laugh.
There’s weight in calling yourself the thing you want to be (and the thing you already are). It becomes real.
You can fail at it. Other people can comment on it.
There’s also weight in not calling yourself the thing. You can only grow so much in the safe shadows.
I wouldn’t call myself a runner so I never connected with other runners. I wouldn’t call myself a runner so it was easy to just…stop.
Call yourself the thing. See yourself as who you want to be and name it out so others can see it too. So they can help you. So you can feel the accomplishment of it.
Now, of course there are some limitations. You can’t just start calling yourself a doctor or a rocket scientist.
But you can call yourself an artist.
A writer.
A speaker.
An entrepreneur.
A traveler.
You can call yourself a runner.