Are You An Athlete?

Leave it to my friend Micah to post a blog today that managed to get me thinking and kind of pull me out of this mornings funk. Funny how a little distraction can do that.

More importantly, it got me to thinking about this whole business of running in a different light.

This morning, I was ready to throw in the towel. Seriously. It was about the halfway point that I started questioning why I doing any of it. I was tired. Cranky. Sore. And sick of being nearly run off the road by drivers who weren't paying attention, which by the way I don't understand---it was kind of bright out and my running top is neon orange. Seriously, I look like an over sized tangerine out there. I don't know how they could miss me!

Right....back to Micah's blog.

She posed the question Are you an athlete? followed by the following quote:

My initial response to the question was laughter. No way am I an athlete, far from it! I'm barely making it through the C25k program. Athletes are hardcore. I'm not.

But after letting it roll around in my head for a little bit, I came to the same conclusion with a twist.....I am not an athlete yet but I'd like to be one some day.

My reasons for starting to run vary from day to day, mostly depending on my mood. Some days it's because it's something I've always wanted to do. Others I'm trying to silence the critics who have always said I couldn't do it. Other times it's to get healthy. But the one constant reason that I am doing it is to prove to myself that I can do it.

Where does that all fit in with the question of being an athlete?

I'm not really sure there is a wrong answer to that question. There is no quantifiable answer. You either are or you are not. You either think you are one or you think you aren't one. It's a state of mind about who you want to be.

There are some days when I feel like I could run forever. Those days I feel like an athlete. Other days I can barely drag my ass out of bed. Those are the days I feel like a poser trying to fit in with the cool kids.

So where does that leave me? 

On the path to being an athlete. And being the best one that I can be.