Once upon a time, there was a very out of shape old lady who decided to take up running. She joined a group, bought some really ugly shoes, started a blog, purchased an iPod and many songs from iTunes, and she began a running program. She even signed up for a 5K that would take place many, many weeks in the future.
She walked and ran. She sweated. She huffed and puffed, and she might have said some really ugly words under her breath. She definitely said some of them right out loud. But she stuck to the program for several weeks, and she started to feel a tad bit proud of herself.
And then she missed a week because a couple of real-life road bumps got in the way. There were issues with work. The father-in-law had surgery to repair an abdominal aneurysm. Her mother needed some help with a few things.
Then she missed the next week and a half because a pox fell upon her house. The husband and two boys were sniffling and coughing and moaning and groaning, so she stayed close to home and wiped noses, soothed coughs and sore throats, picked up mountains of icky Kleenex from every surface imaginable, and made all sorts of soups and comfort food.
As her people started to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, the very out of shape old lady (VOOSOL) noticed a slight itching of the throat, the stuffiness of the nose, and the beginnings of a headache that would last for four days.
And the VOOSOL knew that the pox was all up in her grill, as she's heard some of the younger folks say.
After a sinus cocktail shot, a mighty round of antibiotics, and nearly ten days of feeling like her head was stuffed with wool and rocks, the VOOSOL felt alive enough to lace up her ugly shoes, snap on her new iPod, and hit the pavement again.
It wasn't pretty, not that it ever was, but she threw caution to the wind. She walked a little and then ran until she couldn't run another step, and continued the pattern until the 30 minutes were blessedly over. She stretched and said a few ugly words out loud...just for good measure.
The VOOSOL learned that she very much disliked NOT being able to run. She even felt a little guilty. And she realized that while she is not yet what one would call a proper runner, she will be one eventually.
So, in the end, the very out of shape old lady bought a few more songs for the iPod, washed and folded the running clothes, and put them (along with the really ugly shoes) on top of the dresser...all ready to go for the next run.
The End.
