My Running Shoes Have Become A Symbol of Strength
Today I bought a new pair of running shoes. As I was paying, the cashier asked if I was a runner and I responded yes explaining some of my runs.
Later in the day I laced up my shoes and headed to the rail trail in Midland, Michigan, where my running partners and I usually find ourselves on our long runs. Today in particular I was running alone. I started to think back to when I started running and really started my fitness goals.
I really have been running since I was little being active in sports and living in the country. However, I really can’t say I would consider myself a runner until 2013 when I moved to Texas yes, just 4 years ago. I had even run a half marathon and multiple 5Ks before then.
But just four years ago I started to lace up my shoes to get fit, to change my struggle with IBS and be a stronger person. Four years ago, I wanted to change my life.
Half way through my run, I was pushing to keep going, playing mind games with myself and thinking and I looked down at my shoes. My brand new shoes which had to be one of many Mizuno pair I’ve own. They have seen it all.
Anyone that runs can probably relate to me when I say my shoes have heard more stories, seen my cry, felt my pain, helped me run through my hardships and kept going with me even when I wanted to stop. I even thought about getting something like Vessi waterproof shoes with the amount of tears I’d shade over the years. Nevertheless, my shoes have been under my feet to keep me going through teaching more than 500 spin classes and running multiple 5Ks/10ks/Half Marathons and one marathons.
These shoes were under my feet as I ran through the mountains for Haiti, through Rome, multiple states and more.
They were under my feet as I vented about life and tried to solve the myserties of the world with my running partners.
They were under my feet when I injured my knee and they were under my feet as I pushed to recover from the injury.
They were there through the ‘runner highs’ I would get and the uncontrollable laughter my running partners and I would have sometimes.
They also were foundation under me as I completed my first races, ran PRs and strive to the finish line.
They were under me as I found health, mental stability, stress release and more.
But most importantly they were the part of me that taught me self-love, a healthier lifestyle and closer friends to amazing women.
The shoes may be just a symbol for the amount of joy that running has given me but they have done something for me in the past four years than ever before- they changed me. They changed me to become a self-loving confident woman, they helped me fight through the mental blocks and keeping me to determined to keep me going and they were what kept the impact of a pain from an injury minimum.
As I got done running that day, I took a deep breath and just started smiling even with the sweat dripping down my face. I made it. I finished another run, another mental block and was more determined than ever to meet my next goal.
So if you are reading this and you are a runner already, think about your shoes… or multiple shoes that have been there for you. If you aren’t a runner, I hope this gives you the determination to lace up those shoes (or whatever you need to get you motivated) and go make your dreams happen.
