i brought cookies

Sometimes I write these entries a little ahead of time in the interest of staying consistent, but this actually happened yesterday.

Dialing it back about 2 weeks, I had a woman at the gym come up to me on the stationary bike as I was grinding myself into a fine paste, and ask me “why don’t you run anymore?” I said I do, just less, and that I’ve been focusing on a well-rounded weight routine blah blah blah it doesn’t matter. She was relieved that I didn’t say I was injured and said that she – an early morning walker, who maintains a fair clip if I’m being honest – couldn’t handle the cardio of running and wished she could run. (I think she totally could)

The next day, I ran. It was hard, because I’ve been running a lot less – but these things come back fast. I ran for an hour, which was great, and felt even better because she wasn’t there, so there was no ego involved on my part, I just ran and it was hard and I loved it. Needless to say, I’ve been getting back into running since then.

Her simple question and my willingness to sit there on that stationary bike for another 45 minutes thinking about it melded together into some gumption.

Yesterday, she brought cookies. She loudly announced it to me as I was – yes, running – by her on the track, loud enough to overcome the volume of my ear buds and hers. One of my earbuds doesn’t hold a charge, so my audiobook was only coming in one side of my head and I found her raised voice endearing and amusing. The cookies that I didn’t partake in due to the presence of butter and eggs were in celebration of her 1000th kilometer on that indoor track, but the cookies were not the point.

I’m glad to know of her accomplishment and I’m happy to congratulate her on it. I think we keep these milestones to ourselves far too often.

I know I do.