On my run yesterday I approached a group of women sitting in chairs with a dog off the side of the trail. I was paying attention to see what the dog was doing and the women didn’t really register until I could tell one of them was speaking to me.
She said “I wish I could run!”
And my first thought is “why don’t you?” (thinking this encouragingly, not in a bitchy way)
But I didn’t say that. Then I looked at her and realized her chair was a wheelchair.
Then I’m thinking “is she being funny?” (Mind you, all this happens in a few seconds because I kept running.)
So I say “I could push you!” And they all laugh.
Phew.
I really wasn’t sure how that was gonna turn out. I couldn’t tell if she was joking or upset! I’m glad it was the former.
Then I got attacked by a red-winged blackbird as I have every time I pass this portion of the trail for the last week. Fun fun.
Since I’m here, I’ll mention a few other workout related things.
- I mentioned it last week – that I’m proud of my body for being able to run a marathon. But the interaction yesterday reminded me to think about how grateful I am that I can run at all. That’s kind of been my attitude since I came back to running after a four month break last year, and why I’m not upset my paces are slower than they used to be. I’m just grateful I can do this.
- Going to WWM (my gym) has turned me into an afternoon runner, and I’m a morning runner at heart and it sucks to be missing out on the cool spring mornings to be running in the hot afternoons. But I know I am more likely to run after work than I am to take an afternoon class, so that’s the schedule that works for me.
- The instructors and students at WWM have been welcoming since my first class last August but I’ve felt more and more lately like I’m really part of the community. People greet me by name, ask me questions about things going on in my personal life, send me messages, etc. It feels good to belong.
- Random, but last week Marybel (our main trainer) was telling us to push off our toes when coming out of a reverse lunge and I realized I’ve been trying to power them from my quads. What the heck, Kim!!! It’s so much easier when you push off your toes! When she gives cues like that I really try to remember them and do them so I’m actually working the part of my body she intends for us to.
You came up with the perfect response! I would totally have thought but not said “why don’t you?”
I got swooped on by a red wing blackbird on Saturday! I’d heard that they can attack, but always assumed that was something that happened to other people. I was at a bike trail headed back to my car and I heard a woosh and something touched my head…and then I saw the red wing BB flying away. It was the spookiest thing.
Yeah, like, join me! You can do this too. Then, realizing she can’t… gah, I am so glad I didn’t say that.
Yep! Too close to a nest! It is so spooky. Little effers. LOL. All my memories of getting attacked before are from earlier in the spring so these late spring attacks are throwing me off.
I would have thought the same thing before noticing she was in a wheelchair… It is a good reminder that we absolutely can feel gratitude for being simply able to run.
Ugh, being attacked by a bird while running!!! I got chased by a goose one time when running along the canal, and then I never used that route again afterwards, LOL! You are brave to go back 🙂
It is <3
Gah! Geese are scary! Some attacked me once while riding my bike on a dike and I thought I was going to fall off. And I am not brave... just forgetful. LOL.
I have a niece with cerebral palsy and she physically cannot do a lot of things our other nieces and nephews can. Sometimes it’s nice to sit with her and watch the clouds or talk about books, but it is always such a great reminder to be grateful for my body and what it can do.
Redwing blackbirds are such jerks.
It completely is! And I hope us able-bodied folks thinking that is not insensitive.
Hard AGREE.
This is one of my all-time mantras when I run/exercise: I don’t have to, I get to.
My best friend from high school has multiple health issues and is basically paralyzed on one side and can hardly walk anymore and every time I don’t feel like running, I tell myself how lucky I am that I can.
That’s a great mantra. More runner should use it!
I’ve been following a woman on Instagram who was feeling ill one day and went to urgent care, and they immediately sent her to the hospital. She was pregnant and had to have an emergency C-section, and then got sepsis and had to be put in a medically induced coma. She then lost both of her legs and most of her arms (due to a lot of medically complicated things), so she has to relearn EVERYTHING and live in this entirely new reality of being a quad-amputee. Thinking about what she’s going through puts a lot of things in perspective, and I think about her a lot when I’m struggling when working out. What a privilege to have all of my extremities and the physical ability to exercise and move my body.
Oh my gosh. What a sad scary story. Wow. Her baby was okay?
It is a privilege.