Today I will run. That sounds like the title of a children’s book sitting on my shelf. Maybe it is. I’d get up and look, but then I would be giving in to procrastination. I have two big plans for the day: 1) writing in my cancer journal and 2) RUNNING!
I’m actually excited to see if I can do it. I used to exercise nearly every day, but that pesky cancer diagnosis and mastectomy derailed my inertia. I have never actually been a runner, though. I was more of an elliptical/weight-lifting girl. The Athens Race for the Cure is coming up October 25th and since the Komen Foundation asked me to be the Honorary Chair, I’m challenging myself to run the 5k.
Now, for you serious runners out there, a 5K is your warm up. I get that. But for me, well… let me just show you a picture:
This is the extend of my exercising over the past three months. Look carefully… arm in, arm out, arm in, arm out.
This was one of the exercises designed to get my mobility in my arm and chest back after surgery.
Once I mastered this one, I moved on to carpet angels: 
This exercise actually proved to be hysterical to my family, because I layed down on the carpet ready to make a big joke out of this mobility exercise, only to realize I couldn’t do it. I could not bring my left arm up high enough to make a snow angel in the carpet. Then everyone else in the family proceeded to get on the floor and show me how they could do it. I should have taken a picture, but I was wallowing in humiliation.
So, today I will attempt to run for five minutes. That’s my goal: to keep my feet moving back and forth in a fast enough motion that someone looking on would call it “running” or perhaps “jogging”– for FIVE minutes.
We’re going with baby steps here people, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to extend them into a full out run in a little more than a month. Wanna join me?