Monday Motivation: The Positivity of Running Again

Monday Motivation, Boston Marathon Monday, Inspiration for Women and Women Entrepreneurs

Every day for a year, no matter what the temperature, cloudy skies or even light rain, my bike accompanied me through the beautiful trails at Onondaga Lake Park providing freedom, fresh air, nature’s sights, and positive energy. Only during the snowy month of February was the bike traded in for cross country skies. My long-time treadmill, a horse of equipment lasting 20 years, sat quiet because I gave up running when I lost all my hair to alopecia in 2019 thinking too much running stressed my immune system after 25 years of daily running.  

As the fourth anniversary of running the Boston Marathon crept into my Facebook posts yesterday, from members of the team I ran with, my legs ached to run again. My heart and mind wanted to relive the feeling of running and my head still totally bald even with 2 full years of taking off from running, made me get back on that treadmill and run a 5K.

There is a unique exhilaration that comes with running that you don’t get with other sports – not even biking 9 miles a day in 26-degree weather, crewing on a warm, quiet evening, or cross-country skiing in a tranquil white atmosphere. Running provides the “umph” you need in triumph no matter what mileage you accomplish. As I stepped off the treadmill having run 3.1 miles, I was exuberant!

When you are a female, aged 56, and lose all your gorgeous brown hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows to alopecia, you feel empty inside when you look in the mirror missing your familiar reflection. It’s as if losing your hair, strips you of who you ever had been and will be again. Coming to grips with this change has not been easy and exercising every day, in some way, has built my image back up for myself because that’s what sports can do for someone.

So. when I was motivated to run, like I had for 25 years, I welcomed those heart-warming, familiar feelings of positivity, self-love, and strength back into my life. As I rub the totally smooth skin on the top of my head, still waiting for my hair to grow back, I know anytime I run or even exercise, I invite myself back to the present moment feeling stronger, more confident, and perhaps even slightly more beautiful than before.