Motivational Runners

I went running with my mom and sister tonight. Apparently we are making this a Sunday night tradition.

Before last year, I had never run a mile at one time. I somehow made it through high school and college, sports teams and P.E. classes included, without ever having to run a mile. Though I wasn't proud of it, I was able to forget and undervalue it until I would watch a scary movie. My heart would sink every time I watched a woman get chased because I knew that if I were in put her position, I would have to stop running and find a good hiding place. The problem is that in scary movies, there are never any good hiding places. Serial killers, vampires and tyrannosaurus rexes can apparently all smell human flesh. (Yes, I classify Jurassic Park as a scary movie. As if you could keep your cool when your Jeep has just been flipped and is being spinned in the mud.)

But scary movies still did not get me running. If I changed my behavior on the basis of scary movies, I would have to give up everything from baby-sitting to vacations to public restrooms. And frankly, I love a good public restroom.

No, my running motivation came from another movie: one of the movies from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I am pretty sure I mean the Two Towers, when Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn have to go warn somebody...about something...and they end up having to run quickly to get...somewhere...in time to tell them their news...I don't think it would have killed me to do a little research.

My point is that they had to run for days, and as the camera followed them across the plains, I felt a wave of panic that stuck with me for a long time. I knew that I never would have been able to save Middle Earth. I would have had to take a break every five minutes until Aragorn got so fed up with me that I would have had to just fake an injury and let the others go ahead. I couldn't handle that.

It took about 7 months and some small neon shorts, but I believe I am now a runner. If Aragorn calls, I am ready for anything. And I mean anything. Ahem.