I knew I was a runner when...

Why did I start running? I remember back in middle school and high school I detested running. Heck, I detested any type of sport/exercise. The only thing I liked to do was dance, and c'mon...I can't really classify that as "athletic". Maybe I offend some of you when I say that, but I don't care. It's my blog, I can say what I want. Dancing is not athletic. It may be a good workout, but I still can't classify it as a sport.

In my high school it was required of all students to take only one PE class the entire three years. One. Single. Class. If you were smart, like most students, you took PE your sophomore year. Got it out of the way. When I thought about the word "PE" I wanted to puke up my entire insides. Maybe it's because I was always the one picked last in gym class. Maybe it's because I knew I couldn't run for longer than 30 seconds without wheezing. Maybe it's because walking up a flight of stairs got me winded. Whatever the case, I hated PE. So I put it off till Junior year. Then I put it off until Senior year. And then during Senior year, I still put it off.

Then last semester rolled around. I either had to swallow my pride and take PE with all of the sophomores, or not graduate. Somehow (miraculously) I convinced the PE teacher to accept my sophomore dance class as my PE credit. And it worked. That's right. I never took a single PE class in high school. All because I hated exercising.

Then in college I gained a little weight, stayed up too late, and ate lots of junk food. I didn't exercise one bit. Not one bit. I got into a relationship with a guy I thought I was going to marry, and out of the blue, got dumped. So I went to the gym to work off my frustration and anger. I lost weight. I didn't realize I was losing weight, but I was. It was then that I learned that I liked to workout. I liked getting on that elliptical. I liked lifting weights. I still feared the treadmill and all things running.

So, really, when did I become a "runner"? Not a jogger. A runner. I ran my first race - a 5K - in April 2007. Even then, I don't think I had reached runner status yet. I was still a jogger. In fact, that was the first time I'd ever run for 33 minutes and 46 seconds without stopping. It was the BEST feeling! A month later I ran in my second 5K, knocking off a full 3 minutes from my finish time. I was elated. And I was addicted.

But because I wasn't very fast, and because I never won any medals, I still only thought of myself as someone who jogs. A jogger. When people found out I ran in races they'd say something like, "So, you're a runner, huh?" And I'd come back with something like, "No, it's more like jogging. I'm not very fast." I felt uncomfortable calling myself a runner. So I didn't. I just wasn't comfortable with that title.

Almost a year to the day after I ran my first 5K, I ran my first half marathon - the Salt Lake City Half Marathon - in April 2008. The race started at 7:00 a.m. I woke up at 3:45, got dressed, ate a slice of toast, drank 16 ounces of water. Then my dad drove me to the Trax station in downtown Salt Lake at 4:30. At 5:00 a.m. I stepped onto the train that would shuttle us from downtown to the starting line, near the University of Utah.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person. At all. At all, at all. If I could help it, I'd never wake up before 10 a.m. As I was sitting on the train looking out at downtown SLC through the glass, it was still pitch dark outside. I thought to myself, "Who in the right mind would get up so early to go run 13 miles?! A crazy person?!" And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. "A runner."

That was the moment I finally admitted to myself that I was a runner. Me, a 24-year-old. Me, a girl who never ran a day in her life before the age of 21. Me, a person who weaseled her way out of taking a high school gym class. Me, a 10-minute mile pacer. Me. I was a runner.

I am a runner.

This post was inpsired by the Runner's Lounge writing prompt: "I knew I was a runner when...."

I'd like to know when you (yes, you) happened across this defining moment in your life. Eithe leave me a comment, or post in on your blog and let me know!