Introducing On Beyond Running

I'm your worst nightmare: a fitness convert. That's me, the buzzkill ex-smoker in a crowd that is metaphorically lighting up. This is the how-to and highlights of one middle-aged mom's conversion from couch potato to runner, from Cool Whip to Cool Max. For how and why I did it (and why you might want to try, too)...keep reading.

In two years I went from couch potato to runner. Not exactly a speedy transition, but patience is just one of the lessons I've learned from the running life. For the first year and a half, I ran about 1 mile a day, three days a week. Let me be perfectly clear: I hated it. Every second of it. All the time. Each time out, I waited hopelessly to improve and each time out, I thought I was going to die.

And then a few things changed...One, I decided to make health and fitness a priority. This coincided with my mid-forties and the realization that neither my health nor my fitness were particularly good. Two, I saw my physician (she runs too!) and decided to join Weight Watchers against my (supposedly) better judgment. That was a great move. When I started to consider the whole package: food, health, and fitness, stuff started to happen. I started to improve. I started to get faster and run longer. I moved from running pants marked with a double digit followed by a W (semiotic code for fat lady) to single digit jeans. I started to run races. I started to like it. In short, I became a runner.


"THE DISCLAIMER" I am not a physician, nor do I play one on TV. I have no expertise in health or fitness save my own experience. If you are looking to me for medical advice, get your head examined. But better yet, if you want to start running, do what I did--see your doctor. I owe endless thanks to our family physician, Dr. Jane Bang, M.D. who set me on this path.