Voice of Soles – Running Gave Me A Voice (the wife of a professional athlete finds her way to shine)

Evey year we head to Florida for all of February and March for spring training. This entire time I am with my kids 24/7 (no babysitters), and so when Glen gets home from work even though he he hot and tired I need to get away. So spring training of 2010 one day when he came home after work I headed out for a run… not knowing that this run would change my running trajectory forever. I ran my usual 2 miles (the amount I had determined was enough to allow me to eat chocolate and not be fat) but I couldn’t go home yet… I wasn’t ready. I convinced myself to keep going and ending up running 5 miles; a full 2 miles further than I had ever run before. Not only did I beat my personal best length but something else also happened on that run, for the first time ever I experienced the “runners high”. I am sure you have heard of this illusive thing before, every runner talks about it but until now I had no idea what all the fuss was about. Every time they mentioned it I played along feeling as though I was faking an orgasm. I had never experienced what everyone eluded to but on this magical day when I couldn’t take one more minute with my kids I had gotten there…. found the big running O. Before those 5 miles I hated running. It felt to mundane and hard but that is because I had never ran long enough to get the high, the feeling that makes you love it instead of loathe it.

I tell everyone that it happens after 4 miles (though it is just my theory). The high makes you want to keep going, makes you fall in love with each footstep and makes you so happy you are running (who’d of thought). Something even greater happened for me out on that run though, greater than the high was the release. The release of all this pent up anxiety in my body that I hadn’t found an outlet for. I entered the house that day feeling at ease and calm, something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

I was hooked, right then and there I knew I was onto something and Glen could tell too. He saw a more relaxed, calm, easy wife and he liked it. To this day when we argue he will casually say “hey, when was the last time you went for a run?” because he knows sometimes I can run it out and then it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. He calls me his own springer spaniel; sometimes I just need to be run.

After a couple years and several half marathons later, I had decided to launch my own running blog. On January 24, 2012 runlikeam0ther.com was born. I had never written anything before but running had given me a voice and I felt I needed to share it. Call it God, call it divine intervention but I felt compelled to write about my ups and downs while on this running journey. I know running can be scary and daunting and those who call themselves “runners” are often so intimidating that those wanting to try it are scared they wont be as good as their gazelle bodied counterparts. I wanted to make running accessible, attainable, and enjoyable. I want to inspire people to get out there, get moving, and hopefully learn to love it they way I had grown too. I figured if nothing else I could provide a little honesty and humor to exercise and hopefully help make an ever so small dent in our growing obesity problem. So now I was a runner and writer… two things I never imagined being much less loving.

By: Alisha N.W. Perkins