A Real Runner

I made this blog a while ago, but would never write. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you, it was because I didn't feel like a real runner. When I first started running, I thought to myself, yes, I run, but I'm not a real runner. I don't run as fast as some people, I don't run as far as some people, I don't have fancy running clothes like some people, I could never afford to run as many races as some people. I kept running.

I thought to myself, maybe after I run my first race, I'd feel like a real runner. So, I signed up for a local 5k.

After the race, I still didn't feel like a real runner, so I signed up for another 5k, and I kept running.



I ran three 5k's in 2012, then I got it into my head that if I ran a full marathon I'd finally be a real runner. So I trained and in May of 2013 I earned this.









I still didn't feel like a real runner. I told myself, you took a few walk breaks, you had to stop at the bathroom, your time was too slow (4:45:47, if you're wondering), you're not a real runner. But,  I kept running, I ran 2 more 5k's and a mud run in 2013.





That's me in the purple (I used to be blonde). I came in 4th overall female at that race, and I still didn't feel like a runner. I got a new PR on a trail run 5k,



it makes me wonder what I could do if it would have been a road race. I kept running.

 

This brings us to today. Today was week one of marathon training. Yes, I've decided to run a second marathon. Not to prove I am a real runner, but because I realized that I am a runner, and I want to run, I want too have a goal, and something to work toward. I realized that I may never run as fast as some people, and I may never run as far as some people, and I may never have all the fancy running clothes that some people have, and I may never run as many races as some people, but I'm going to keep running, because in my heart, I know that I'm a runner, and that's all that really counts.