The Butterfly Runner

I've been at home recovering from doubler hernia surgery since June 22nd.  As you can imagine, I'm not really able to work out during my recovery, and certainly can't run.  If you have been keeping up with my Twitterstream, you'd know that I actually had to stop running a couple of weeks before my surgery because I had aggravated a herniated disc in my back.  So it's been and will be an even longer while since I've run.

For the past few days, I've started going on short walks around my neighborhood as part of my recovery.  Each day, I go a little farther.  It's been really nice out weather-wise with good sun, fresh air, and not a lot of cars or people since so many folks go away for July 4th.  On these walks, all I can think about - literally - is how I wish was I was running at that moment.  I mean down to each step.  I think about how I'd be hitting it in my Vibrams.  Each time my Nike+ GPS app (yes, I walk with this on to see how far I've gone) tells me my pace, I think about what sort of pace I'd be doing if I had been able to keep running.

This post isn't about being sad for me for my terrible problem (please read that with sarcasm).  This is about a realization I had today.  I've become a runner.  More accurately, I've become someone who really values and enjoys running.  I'm thinking about it a lot, and find myself thinking about it when my mind is idle (admittedly, that's not a common occurrence).  If you read old posts, I was not only not a runner, but was someone who despised it - who got anxious, nervous and slightly nauseous at the idea that someone was going to try to make me run.

I can thank Chris McDougal and his book Born to Run for giving me the spark, or I could thank the coworker who suggested the book to me in the first place.  I can thank Pete Larson for giving me far too much great content in his blog (must read - http://www.runblogger.com), Twitter page (@Runblogger) and fantastic book, Tread Lightly.  I can go on and thank others, but ultimately, it's just about what McDougal and Larson get it - we really are born to run.  Through education and experience, I unlocked that, and have a passion for it now.

It's funny how I called this post "The Butterfly Runner" - hinting at me coming out of a cocoon and being something much greater since I know have a passion for running.  Funny because I sort of looked like a caterpillar before.  OK, maybe not exactly, they're kinda pudgy and stuff.