Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Passion in Paradise

Okay, here's how it all started. Junior High gym class, 1989, Mrs. Lobb FORCED us fragile, developing girls to try and run an 8 minute mile. I finished the mile and yes, it took me longer than 8 minutes. At the end of it, I was doubled-over, red-faced, and feeling horrible. For the next 8 years, I loathed running and was content to walk for my exercise. Then in 1997, while living in Hawaii, a friend of mine took me under her wing and ran 1/4 of a mile with me, slowly but surely. The rest is history. My love and passion for running began then, while I was living in Hawaii. Before I knew it, I was up to a mile. Part of the motivation was that I would run from our base housing to the beach and back. Since that summer of 1997, I have ran 1 full marathon, 5 half marathons, and several 5Ks and 10Ks. Running is my happy drug of choice. If I met up with Mrs. Lobb today, I might say, "Because of you, I missed out on 8 years of good running!"

3 comments:

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Great first post, sis!

Welcome to the blogosphere. hee hee

Libby said...

Jill!
I love it! Bless her heart, Mrs. Lobb was a great lady, but she had a way of really making one feel inadequate (i.e. group showers). Glad to see you have made a healthy drug choice.

Anonymous said...

Jill -- You brought back a lot of pleasant memories from my past runs. I may have to find my ol' runners log and take a little longer trip down memory lane.

Do you keep a running log? Did you keep one in Hawaii?

Thanks for the memories, Jill.