How do I know?

   How do I know I am a runner? Let me tell you, I know that I am a runner because I recently realized that I have earbuds stashed all over the place. Like seriously, I have a pair in my truck, a pair in my purse, a pair in my running bag, a pair in the little holder on my treadmill, a pair in my nightstand, and a little container with some more in. I always like to have them handy because I don't buy very expensive ones so they tend to break sometimes.

Reason number two that I know I am a runner, I have little piles of pins in various places. The pins come off my race bibs and I always say that I am going to bring my own pins along to my races since I have so many of them. But I never do. If I run enough races I will eventually have enough to donate back to a run and supply a good number or people with race bib pins.

Reason number three, I made a holder to hang the medals on that I have earned for running and I hung that holder in my dining room. Why should I be the only one that sees them? I've worked hard for them. I don't display a lot of things, my diploma is in a box somewhere, but those medals, they needed to be put where everyone could see them.

There it is, isn't it pretty? This is an out of date picture, I've added a medal to the collection since then.

Reason number 4, every time I know I am going out running I get a feeling of calm. Running is my time for just me. It's my chance to relax and let all the stress go.

Reason number 5 that I know I am a runner, I have signed up to do this ridiculous run (The Dopey Challenge) that my bestie and I officially started training for yesterday, and man am I excited! Only a runner would say they are excited about training to run 48.6 miles!

I'm not saying that I'm a fast runner, or even that I'm great at it, but I really have fallen in love with it and I see this relationship lasting a long time.