Indulge me a bit: in less than a month, I’ll be running my first-ever race. It’s only four miles, but it’s not something I ever envisioned myself doing, and a reflection of one of the biggest changes I’ve made to my lifestyle in recent memory.
a view of the Hudson River on one of my runs
I’ve never ever been an athletic person, or someone even mildly interested in physical fitness. Two years of elementary school soccer + 10 years of Bharat Natyam, a style of Indian classical dance, were all the activity I needed or wanted growing up. In college, exercise was always something I never had time to do. Sure, there were weird diets, but y’know, the gym was so crowded and besides, wasn’t dancing at the club every weekend a workout? I’ll admit it – I owned the same pair of sneakers for eight years and they were still in mint condition.
Last year, around my 23rd birthday, something clicked. Maybe it was the fear of getting raptured or being unable to outrun zombies in the impending Mayan apocalypse, but all of a sudden, I didn’t want to be a person who could barely run a mile and didn’t know how to do a push-up. I joined a gym and began setting my alarm to 5:07 a.m., forcing myself to get up and exercise before work every day. Some days were mis — it was rainy and cold and I was sore and my bed was so warm! But it really does feel awesome to kick butt in a spin class or run longer or faster than you did the day before, and that has proved to be effective motivation.
And all of a sudden, when I’d have to stop working out for a few days (like say, when on vacay), I would miss it. I’ve become that person that schedules brunch around hot yoga and dinner around Pilates classes. I look forward to my runs along the Hudson River, watching the sun rise (or occasionally set), an unforeseen perk of my new apartment. And I’m actually really excited to finish dead last on this race next month, to cross my first finish line ever.
after 8 years in the same sneakers, I finally bought a new pair (customized!)
While flying back from Buenos, Mili asked me what my goals for 24 are. Just putting this out there (don’t hold me to it!), but I’d love to run a half-marathon in the next year … Fingers crossed I can get myself there!
Question to all the runners out there: any advice for me on my first race?
(Sorry for back-to-back-to-back recipe-less posts — I haven’t been cooking much recently since I’ve been a bit all over the place. But I’m back in the kitchen now!)
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