{"id":194,"date":"2020-01-26T11:47:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T11:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/?p=194"},"modified":"2020-09-14T15:40:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:40:53","slug":"run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/?p=194","title":{"rendered":"Run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I always told myself that I couldn\u2019t run. I had pretty good\nlogic for why I couldn\u2019t run as well, telling myself constantly that I was too\nweak, too short or too inexperienced. I had convinced myself that this truth\nwas the absolute, and there would never be a chance for me to run or even to\nenjoy running. Don\u2019t understand this incorrectly, I\u2019m a very active human\nbeing. I\u2019ve always been really into gym, yoga, and recently decided to start\ndancing too. Running was just one of those things on my list of \u201cNever, Never,\nWill I Ever, Do This Activity\u201d. And I was always okay with this mindset, until\none day something told me I had to go for a run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this first run, I had decided I was going to full force\nmyself into this whole running thing. Forget the \u2018easing into it\u2019 and preparing\nmy body, I just went with it. I forced myself to run a 5km \u2013 which granted,\nisn\u2019t very far \u2013 but for a person who never runs, this was quite the challenge\nto place upon myself. I did it, and the wind on the beach was so rough that I\nfelt like I was fighting for life. I hated this run so much, but I knew it was\nbecause I was forcing myself to run too fast for my fitness level. I still had\nfight left within me, so the next day I decided I would use the Nike Run Club\napplication\u2019s guided runs. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, I want to make it very clear that I am not\nendorsing this application, but that I am being genuine in my experience\noverall in this prose. The next day after forcing myself to run that 5km, I\nused Coach Bennet\u2019s \u201cFirst Run\u201d guided run. I ended the run with a smile. I\nended the run wanting to run more. The reason? I can\u2019t remember exactly what\nCoach Bennet said that day, but he did make me realize something. He made me\nrealize that I am a runner simply because I have a body and because I made the\ndecision to run. I wasn\u2019t too slow, too short or too weak. I was a runner. I\ncontinued to listen to his guided runs over that following week, and I promise\nyou, I was smiling at the end of every run. The girl that absolutely loathed\nrunning (if you ask anyone who knows me, they will vouch for this) was smiling\nduring and after every run she completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I continued running and I still am continuing to run, using\na plan set up by the Nike Run Club application. But here\u2019s the thing, as Coach\nBennet would say, \u201cThis is about running. This is not about running.\u201d My\nprocess of overcoming my fear and hatred for running is way more than a fitness\nachievement or boast. The journey that has brought me to the place where I am\ntoday is intricate and blessed, and it is happening in each and every one of\nour lives if we let it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, I was convincing myself that I was incapable of\nsomething. It came from many places of pain, but I let pain become my hurdle (a\nhurdle that was not even real) that I would never jump over. Having two\noperations on my foot as a child was a heavy burden, as during those times\neveryone was running and playing, while I had no choice but to sit and watch.\nObviously not being able to exercise for basically 4 years had its effect on my\nweight, and kids being kids, made this very plain to me. When I could start\nexercising again, my body was trying to find its rhythm again, but everyone\nwould laugh at me for the way I ran. Even up until high school, I still recall\na girl stopping in her tracks during hockey training just to tell me that it\u2019s\nhilarious how I run because my legs are so, and I quote, \u201cshort and stubby\u201d.\nEvery high school girl\u2019s dream\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the longest time I had so much resentment towards people\nfor the things they said, but today I realize this had nothing to do with the\npeople who said a mere few words to me without realizing the consequences. They\nsay sometimes people are used by the devil to bring spiritual warfare to\nothers. This couldn\u2019t be truer \u2013 the people that said some pretty hurtful\nthings to me are not bad people, in fact, they\u2019re all pretty incredible. At the\ntime, I just allowed the devil to win and to push me down into the ground.\nThese people weren\u2019t telling me I would never be able to run, it was the devil.\nAnd subsequently, I started saying these things to myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the incredible thing about God. He makes all things\nnew. After high school, I renewed my relationship with Him. And I strongly\nbelieve if it wasn\u2019t for this, I wouldn\u2019t be running today. He showed me the\nlies of the devil and He rebuked all of these lies too. Soon I was breaking all\nthe hurdles around me, and the day came that God had prepared for me to run for\nHis glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this really isn\u2019t about running. This is about not allowing the devil, or even yourself, to stand in the way of you excelling. Maybe there\u2019s something you\u2019ve always secretly wanted to do \u2013 I don\u2019t know \u2013 be it gymnastics, writing or public speaking. If there is a desire or wonder inside of you, explore that. See where it takes you. Because If I\u2019m certain of anything \u2013 it\u2019s this: the grass is much greener on the other side of the hurdles that never actually existed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mila Ottavini<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always told myself that I couldn\u2019t run. I had pretty good logic for why I couldn\u2019t run as well, telling myself constantly that I was too weak, too short or too inexperienced. I had convinced myself that this truth was the absolute, and there… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions\/198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}