Love Affair? Really?

My love affair (??) with jogging began a long long time ago–in the spring of 1993 to be exact.  I was a freshman in college and I had to take a “Walk/Jog” class.  We jogged around the inside of the gymnasium, we jogged around the Nursery-College Road block, and we jogged around the inside of Warner auditorium when it was icy and cold outside (it was freezing inside too).  I remember some of the tips and suggestions the coach gave to this day.  He gave some tips about gait and told us to run through side cramps and pain.  (That one I recalled JUST today in the midst of a cramp!)

My class finished that semester and then something interesting happened.  My Dad offered to go jogging with me during his lunch break from Dunn Hall.  I would go and change in the midst of my day and meet him and we’d do the Nursery-College Road block.  Today, I really wish I had taken a picture of us, doing something together that we would do for years.

I’ve pretty much jogged ever since.  I’ve taken big breaks–maybe even as long as years–with the arrival of the “used-to-be-little-people”.  I’ve experienced injuries and weight struggles that have taken me out for awhile.  Consistency has not been my middle name, BUT, no other exercise is as fulfilling.  It’s not that I LOVE jogging and can’t wait to get out there and do it–in fact, there are plenty of times when I’d just prefer not to—but, there is no other exercise that I feel satisfied with.  You won’t find me doing laps in a pool or jiggling to Zumba.  I’m going to really be a sad, sad woman when my body says “no more”.

I’m sure I am a sorry sight.  My friend told me she doesn’t want to jog in public (like on the school campus) because she doesn’t want people to see her.  I really don’t care about that at this point in my life.  I jog and hope that in my slow methodical plodding that I bring amusement to someone or the tiniest flame of inspiration for something they want to undertake.  This week I have jogged three days in a row.  Today I got up to a mile and a half, which is farther than I have gone in quite awhile.  I’ve mostly been done at a mile–physically and with available time.  That may not seem far to my friends who do 3, 5, 10 and 20 miles on a regular basis, but what is amazing is that I feel pretty good.  My friend and I have been working together to eat healthy and cut out junk, and I don’t remember feeling this great after a jog in a long time.  I’m thankful that I have some jogging days left in my future.

But can I tell you the truth?  Can I tell you what I think about each and every time that I jog?  I think about my Daddy.  Maybe that is another reason I just can’t ever let it go.  I think about how he would meet me, rain or shine.  I remember how he came to do something with me–just him and I—in the midst of busy-ness for both of us.  I think that besides being good for me, the other most compelling reason that you’ll find me there is that I will be jogging for him.  And oh, how I feel like I would give anything if he could just jog a few laps with me again.  I really hope that one day, his body will be restored and we can jog together—not because we “need” it, and maybe not even because we “love” it, but just so that we can be together doing something that we used to do.