Another Attempt at Demolishing Fear

Fourteen years ago--when Scotty and I started dating--I had BIG dreams that he would make me a runner. Running comes easily for Scotty, and he was a part of high school and college cross country teams. This dream never came true for several reasons. Scotty is much too fast to run with me, and I never really had the confidence to attempt to keep up.

On Friday, we were both headed out for a run. I was going to run my little 3 mile trek. Scotty was planning to run 5. On the way down the driveway, he invited me to go the whole 5 miles with him.

Honestly, I was very hesitant. I like to stay close to home...just in case I feel as though I can't/don't want to finish my run. Scotty's five miles takes him 2.5 miles away from our house only to turn around and run the same mileage back. It seemed a little risky for my first attempt. But, he brought up the fact that he does come to my spinning class. So, truly, this was only fair.

Well, I made it!!! Scotty ran much slower than he would have, and he circled back a couple of times when I REALLY lagged behind. I can't say that it wasn't painful. But, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. I think I might even try it again one day. Maybe!?!

I am so bad about making things SEEM much worse than they really are. When I do that, sometimes the fear of the unknown can almost paralyze me. I've written before about me fear to get certified in group exercise. I really didn't think I would ever be able to do it. However, since getting that certification, I have achieved many exercise goals that seemed impossible only a year ago.

So, I'm still not a "runner", but I'm not afraid of running anymore. I'd love to say that I will not let fear take over in life's circumstances again. That's probably not going to happen. But, this run will definitely serve to remind me that "all things are possible", and fear should never dictate my decisions.