Can't

A little over two years ago, I went with my wife to watch a local triathlon. She had recently gotten serious about running and had some interest in this triathlon thing. After watching, she decided she wanted to do it. Her main problem was, she was afraid of the bike portion.

Some dear friends worked together and got her a bike to ride, she started riding, continued running, and started working on her swimming as well. A year after watching that triathlon, my wife who hadn't swum in years, and was afraid of riding a bike on the road had logged hours upon hours in the pool and miles upon miles on the bike. I went to watch another triathlon, this time she was racing.

I was so excited for her, and inspired, I really wanted to do a triathlon too. I had some problems though, first of all, it hurt to run. I had some pretty intense plantar fasciitis going on as well as recurring bursitis in my left hip. Walking a mile was painful for me, running (I believed) was impossible.

So, instead of triathlon training, I just upped my other training, Kung Fu, kettlebells, pushups, crunches, cardio rounds. . . I got into great shape, but was constantly lamenting the idea that I couldn't run with my wife.

One day while she was on a run, I caught up to her on my bicycle. On some spontaneous kick, I got off the bike and ran about a mile with her. It didn't hurt, so I started thinking about running again.

There was a race she was going to run on Thanksgiving morning, people kept suggesting that I run it with her. On the Wednesday one week before the race, I said to my wife, "If I'm going to run this race with you, I'd better find out if I can actually run 5 kilometers." Then I walked out the door in khaki shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of beat up cross training shoes. I ran five kilometers. It didn't hurt.

Until the next day anyway.

The next day I could barely walk due to sore muscles in my legs, but there was no hip or foot pain. I was pumped. I ran my first 5K 8 days later. I finished in 26:47.6 for an 8:38.6 minute/mile pace in 128th place out of 369 finishers.

I've been running ever since. There have been times when I had some hip pains, and foot pains, but I learned stretches and exercises I can do to alleviate, and prevent them. There were times when I didn't want to get up and go out and run, but I did anyway. There were a couple of times I had to take a break from the running schedule to not aggravate an injury, but I've been doing it ever since. Tomorrow is my "running birthday" as my wife calls it. She inspired me to run, and because of it, I am healthy, fit, dedicated, and strong. I've added running to my list of new things I can do.

Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks.