Today at work, I was talking about what I had done yesterday after I got off of work/was done with classes for the day: worked on a paper, went to see a speaker (Mia Kirshner!) on campus, worked more on a paper, went for a run, worked a little more on a paper, did some reading, fell asleep. My friend at work asked me what was more important: school and homework or running. I laughed and said that, in some ways, they have similar importance. Of course, it was a joke at work, because people don't understand what I'm trying to do. I haven't tried to explain it to them very well, obviously. I joke around with a few of the people that I work with, asking if they would come running with me.
The people at the particular job that I'm talking about are mostly middle aged, older, overweight women. (This is not true for everybody. Just a prototype.) I work in a food service location on my university's campus. People that I work with typically don't understand what I'm trying to do. Many of them don't get a week's worth of exercise in within a month. It's a little frustrating, becuase when I get up in the morning, there isn't anybody there that I can really talk about my running with at work. Yes, there are other student employees at my job, and many of those people can relate to what I'm doing. It's just hard sometimes that the people that I work with one on one every day don't understand how important this is to me.
I know that a lot of people don't understand what I'm trying to do. This entire goal is huge for me. I haven't really stuck to much for very long and this is something that I think that I can totally do. Something pushes me to keep going every day. I wish that I had more of a support system. I know that there is a student runner's association on campus, but I think that they meet on Mondays... and Mondays are night class evenings for me. Too bad. There has to be something else for me, though.
My friend Katherine runs with me a lot, but she has some kind of problem going on with her foot that she hasn't had diagnosed. She needs to stay off of her foot for a while and try to relax. That's one less person that I can run with. At least she can understand what I'm talking about when I discuss running and running issues. She's just as interested in running as I am. Well, maybe not quite as much, but pretty much interested.
Actually, right now I'm going to mosey around online trying to find some kind of a support group. Maybe even for Goofy's Challenge.
Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far: 174.51 miles/87 days
To go: 825.49 miles/278 days
Yeah. I'm not AS interested in running considering I would never train for the goofy's challenge in a year. Well..okay. If I didn't have this stupid injury I have plenty of time on my hands to be running for hours every day if I wanted to. But that is a pretty intense goal. And I don't read all the runners books and stuff as you do. But I do really appreciate running as a form of exercise, stress relief, and just a way to set a goal and accomplish something to be proud of. Those are very important aspects of running. I'm glad you've found something important in your life to focus on.
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