I have exercised more in the past two years than I ever have in my life. I was never a particularly athletic kid – I played soccer for a while, I ran a season of cross country in middle school, and I trained for a 5k in college, but sports were never my thing.
In the summer after my first year of teaching, I decided to register for a half marathon. Having a goal to push for, especially a goal that would happen in public and in front of people I knew, pushed me to actually run on a regular basis, which made me get better at running and actually start to enjoy it. One thing that I love about running, and exercise in general, is that it makes me feel confident about my body in a way that has nothing to do with my appearance – I love my legs because they let me run and spend time outdoors, and it doesn’t matter what they look like.
Another thing I love about running is that I can win at something that has nothing to do with school or teaching – after I have a rough day at school, I can go and have a great run.
This summer, I set a goal for myself: exercise every single day.
So far, I’ve met this goal – I’ve mostly been running, but I’ve also gone hiking. I also have a gym membership that includes spinning and yoga classes, which I’ve never taken advantage of, but I’m going to try them out this summer. I’m excited to see how my fitness changes when I’m working out more consistently and branching out a bit more from running.