Despite a few other health concerns, my heart has always been in excellent shape. The rest of my body...not so much. As a child I was always at the back of the pack during the dreaded "fitness week" of P.E. when they made us run the mile. That was the only time I willingly broke into a jog, and it was only for part of the mile. As I got into my twenties and realized that I had better start a habit to offset my reading and baking, I began jogging.
When I first started, I could barely make it to the end of my street--which is is exactly 1/7 of a mile. Soon I began stretching that to longer increments, and eventually began to jog for the whole time. The first time I ran a mile straight I was so proud of myself that I didn't mind it took me over 13 minutes. Ha! Now, two years later, I can easily jog for a long time at an 11 minute-per-mile pace. If I'm just running two miles, I can run it in under 20. And just one? My best time was 8:27. Wahoo for me! I certainly don't consider myself an athlete, but I'm proud of how far I've come, and I would dearly love to be able to run faster. Sometimes I have dreams that I'm running and running at lightning speed and never get tired. That will probably never come to pass, but I do love those dreams.
Recently I've been in to several doctor appointments, and they've taken my blood pressure and heart rate. The other day when I went in my heart rate was at 56. When the nurse told me that I said, "56?!? Is that okay?" "It's close enough to 60--nothing to worry about it." Good. When I got home, I looked up resting heart rates. The normal is 60-90, but apparently "well-trained athletes" often have heart rates between 40-60. So if MY heart rate was at 56 after sitting for five minutes at the doctor's office, I'm thinking my resting heart rate must be in the 40's. Wow.
So--this is what I've decided: even though I may look I've eaten a few too many cupcakes in my time (and I have!), I have the heart of a runner!
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