Days in Goodness: a sure way into your mother-in-law's heart

This is coming a little late, but I'm still going to post it because I love to run!

I never thought I would say that. haha.

I've truly come to enjoy running as an activity that is not only good for my health, but also as a way to clear my mind and free myself from the stresses of life. I love to run, but I wouldn't consider myself addicted to running. Well, maybe borderline addicted. It also makes me feel good and well...invincible. There is something about accomplishing a run, or a race, that energizes me, invigorates my mind, and continues to fuel my self-confidence that I can do incredibly hard things. Let's face it, how many people do you know actually like to run? And then how many people do you know who hate running? Yeah, it's pretty imbalanced. Running is a hard sport. I was never one to go with the crowd anyway, so I guess I found my niche.

At the end of September, I ran a half marathon with my mother-in-law. MY MOTHER-IN-LAW! Not very many people can boast that they have done that. It's a risky business. If you want a sure way into your mother-in-law's heart, ask her to run 13 miles with you. She'll either love you or hate you. Fortunately for me, she decided to choose love over hate. But in all seriousness, it was a great experience for both of us. We kept in touch with each other about our training runs and of any pain issues. Since I am somewhat of a more experienced runner than she is, I was able to give her some running tips. I tried the best I could to be supportive and encouraging. I made it clear to her that I don't care about speed or time, but that I just wanted to run it together and have fun. In the beginning, she was intimidated at the mere thought of 13 miles, but in the end she totally owned that race. Even after healing from an injury, she still decided to run. That's true courage at its finest.