I run like a girl, and damn proud of it too.

 love running. I hate preparing my runs. I hate getting started. And I hate struggling to finish the last mile – ok the last two miles. I hate alternating between being so thirsty I could drink enough water to hydrate a small family and feeling so queasy that you have thought I had just eaten at a Mexican restaurant of questionable reputation.

However, after a run I feel magnificent. I feel accomplished. I look back at all the miles I ran, and think wow, I did that. I ran those miles. I struggled up every hill and coasted down the other side. Every time I push myself to do just one more mile, my body rebels. I keep glancing at the time, thinking omg how has it only been 30 seconds?

The best part of running though is all you have to do is put one foot in front of another. Sometimes that is the only way I get through a mile. But that is all you need to know to even run one mile. If you can put one foot in front of the other, you can run a mile.

I look at my body, and I know that even though I am not overweight and am slender. I will never be stick thin. My body needs to have substance to push itself through thirteen miles.  I am proud of my body for what it can accomplish and I don’t worry about weighing a certain amount or squeezing into a certain size.

I think women get so caught up in being a certain size, or looking a certain way that they forget about what is healthy. It is not healthy to starve yourself to make your body unnaturally thin. If you eat well and exercise, your body will find it’s happy weight. But that might not be a size 2. And I think we as a society need to learn how to live with that.

When I go shopping and try on a pair of jeans that are a size 4, they have an inseam that would only fit a woman 5’8 or taller. So what they are insinuating is that if you need a size four, you better be tall. Otherwise you are just a shorty who is overweight. It amazes me that I wear a large in underwear from Victoria’s Secret. I honestly don’t have any body fat, but the way my hips and ass sit, they require a large. If I were more sensitive to this kind of thing, I might get my feelings hurt. Luckily I know that Clint loves me the way I am, and I like me the way I am.

If I had to pick between being a size 0 and being able to run, I would pick being able to run. I feel my best after a run, but if I were a size 0, I would only feel good when I was trying on clothes.