Take That, Lil Clax

Every time I go for a morning run I feel like I'm punching my Childhood Self in the stomach. Knocking the wind right out of Lil Erin. For a couple reasons. One, I'm overcoming my tendency to sleep right until I have just enough time to splash myself with water, clothe myself, throw on some mascara, and arrive almost on time. A habit I developed years ago. Until I got to high school, I don't remember a morning when I wasn't running late. And, really, the biggest reason that changed in high school, and into college, was because of how often I would neglect the shower and just wear my sweats. I was never unhygienic, I just got really good at hitting the "Snooze" button. In 4th grade, we had to come up with a new invention for Science Class. Mine was an extreme alarm clock. I used a shoe box as the bedroom, some bits of fabric as the bed, and a Barbie to demonstrate how the alarm goes off, and a rotating mechanism turns Barbie's entire body, sits her up and pushes her out of bed. Obvious danger of broken faces aside, I still think it's a great idea. I just love sleeping. My mom always talks about how lucky she was because she never had any trouble getting Baby Erin to sleep. I could sleep anywhere. I still can sleep anywhere. Especially if it's a moving vehicle. I'm out like a light. Like riding in a giant rocking chair. My eyes are getting heavy thinking about it.

The other reason: I am proving my lazy little girl self that she CAN run. Wait, I don't think "lazy" is the right word. I think it has to do more with being stubborn. We've talked before about how I never liked running. Even all the years I played sports I hated running. I promise my coaches wanted to murder me every time they assigned Suicides because I would complain SO MUCH. No, seriously, you guys. I would have hated me. I was such a brat. Clearly it was because I didn't feel like I was good at running so then when my coaches would call me out on it, I would just get angry and just try to make the team laugh at my silly running rather than actually running. Then Coach would get angry and make me, and the team, run more. This made no one laugh. I think I wanted to prove that I could still be good at sports without being good at running. Stick it to the man! What an idiot. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I would never have wanted to play with me. My only saving grace was that I made everyone laugh. Story of my life. I think I'm just going to assume that all of that time on organized teams as a child helped me become the team player I am now. Because, I feel like I'm generally easy to work with now. I hope...If I'm not, I guess all I can say is, "At least you weren't on my softball team."

This post really took a turn. My intention was to be proud of my 3 miles at 6am but now I just feel bad for everyone I ever played sports with....My dad was an assistant coach one year and I think if I had continued to play and him coach, our relationship would have ended. Yeah, it was that bad. And I LOVE my dad. I guess as soon as I have to call someone "Coach" my issues with authority flare up. Lil Stubborn Clax, that's what they call me. That's not true. Also I was so much taller so much sooner that I would just elbow kids in the face. I don't think I was ever even good at basketball, I was just stronger earlier. Oops.

To wrap it all up, as I so often enjoy doing at the end of my posts, we have learned why I am now a runner and not on a team sport. Running is just me. The only person I let down if I don't run is me. It's a discipline I can handle. Man! Another post that taught me something about myself. I hope you guys learn something, or at least giggle at a couple of these, cause, I tell you what, this is like free therapy that improves my WPM.