Lis and Tyler in Germany

As many of you may know, I have often SWORN that under no circumstances could I ever enjoy running.  I’ve tried it several times and every time I feel like I am going to die.  It hurts my knees, my ears, my head and neck, my poor lungs and heart…everything.  Even when I’ve been in fairly good shape.  But something had to be done because there’s no gym around and the rolls and cream are starting to show.  So a few days ago I googled “start running” and found some good tips for a beginning runner.  I set out for my running/walking intervals (1.5 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking for 30 minutes) and came back feeling  good.  And like I wanted to do it again someday, which is notably different than any other running experience I’ve had.  Since that first running experience and my decision to become a runner, a few really stressful things have come into my life.   I’ve just gone for two runs since then, but both times I could actually feel the run managing my stress.  What a great feeling.  So, today I was running (1.5 minutes at a time) and thinking about how glad I am to have this in my life now.  And I got to thinking about bigger, better runs and thought that perhaps I’d try to work up to a half-marathon (I know, it’s a big leap from only being able to run for 1.5 minutes at a time…).  You will never believe what happened.  I was running through the woods behind our house, where Tyler and I have been walking most days, and where I’ve gone for my previous two runs.  It’s beautiful and quiet and there’s a long path through the woods which is mostly flat (although slightly uphill on the way back, I swear) and I’ve never seen anyone else out there.  But today, as I was rounding the last bend and intersecting with another path, a group of 15-20 hikers came out of nowhere.  And they started to clap.  I turned around.  Nobody.  I assumed they must have mistaken me for the first runner to reach the finish line of a race I didn’t know about.  But when I’d past, they stopped clapping and continued on their walk.  I swear, sometimes there are some pretty huge signs that you’re doing the right thing.