I'm a Real Runner...#IHaveARunnersBody

I have been a runner for almost 20 years and a distance runner (half and full) for about 9 years.  If you were to ask me what I do on my free time, with the exception of spending time with my family I would say, I'm a runner...I run.  I have toed the line at 36 half marathons....countless 5ks....and the coveted starting line in Hopkington at my one and only Boston.  My medal rack is heavy laden with medals and I should own stock in Saucony with the amount of sneakers I have purchased over the years.  My office wall is plastered with bibs from the last 5 years of races....yet I struggle to think that I look like a runner.  The most nerve wracking part of a race for me is lining up....and feeling like singing "One of these things is not like the other" as I watch the sea of long and lean runners before me.

I first met Dorothy at a Saucony event many years ago before the Boston marathon.  She was part of a new Saucony campaign...you may have heard about it...#FindYourStrong!  Lol!  I remember seeing the commercial clip with her in it and thought...wow she looks like a strong runner.  Then I read her post last week about how she struggles to think she has a runner's body.  And I am so on board with her new movement....because as many times as I think I don't look like a runner....honey I AM a runner so therefore I look like one!  Dorothy put it best...

You are what you want to be. If you want to be a runner you are. If you want to look like a runner and are a runner, well then you are what a runner looks like.

I'm a REAL runner and I have a runner's body....when I'm running pregnant!

I have a runner's body....when I am getting my groove back postpartum!

I have a runner's body....when I am feeling fabulous!

I have a runner's body...when I am running in a tutu!

I have a runner's body...when the photog gets a good angle!

I have a runner's body...when the photog gets a bad angle!

I have a runner's body...when I am a mother runner!!!

I have a runner's body....when I am running!!!

Runners come in all shapes and sizes....speeds and distances.  I will continue to work on my mental message that I AM a real runner and I LOOK like one too!!!