Do you workout??

I've been meeting a lot of people since starting my new job and in general the questions are your typical where ya from? how long have you been a nurse? are you married? any kids? The other night one of the girls asked "Do you workout?" to which I immediately replied "Yes!" We then started talking about local gyms, where to run etc. Later on I was thinking about it and wondering at what point did I become one of *those* workout people? Let's be honest, I really never liked those kindof people. In college, there were the girls who were like "oh, I feel so fat because I haven't done aerobics for 4 hours." There was also the girl who used to iron her t-shirts AND underwear before going running but she had issues so I didn't like her for other reasons :)

Since starting this whole fitness thing, I've always considered myself out of shape and most definitely a beginner. When my friend Mary referred to me at her 4th of July party as the "runner" I was like "No, not really - I just jog a little." At some point, I've come to the realization that I AM the workout sort.
I AM a runner.
Yes, I'm pretty slow and I definitely have tons of room for improvement, but it has become an important part of how I define myself. When I moved here, I was stressed because I had been so busy that I hadn't had time to workout, and to top it off I didn't have the faintest clue where to run around here. Since then, I've found a great place to run, the trails at First Landing State Park which is a just a few miles down the road. The main trail is a multi-use one that is 6 miles one way through the woods and apparently at some point (to which I have yet to make) it connects you out to the oceanfront and the boardwalk. I've been running there exclusively since discovering it.

Speaking of running, though it hasn't been mentioned recently I am still planning on doing the Lewis & Clark half-marathon in St Charles,MO on September 17th. My cousin Travis is doing the full marathon, and Dean "Ultramarathon Man" Karnazes will be starting the North Face Endurance 50 quest of 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 days. I must admit that I have not been remotely following my training plan and as such I expect that I will be doing a lot of walking and not breaking any speed records. At this point, I don't care how long it takes me, I just want to do it and push as hard as possible. I've got plenty of time to actually be able to run a full half-marathon and in the end, 13.1 miles is a pretty big accomplishment for someone who used to be irritated by workout type of people.