Healing my inner child through running

Some thoughts on running a half marathon for the first time in my life.

Today’s letter is coming from a very vulnerable place. I mention my experience with diet culture and body image issues. Be mindful of reading if this might be triggering for you.

---

Today, on the first Sunday of May, I ran the BMO Half Marathon in Vancouver along with 20,000+ people. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would get into training to run a race like this and actually run the thing, I would have never believed it. Yet, I finished the race with just a couple of blisters and very sore legs. I felt so much pride when at the finish line I was handed a silver medal that I showed to my parents through Facetime, feeling victorious. Today, I want to share with you how that medal helped heal my inner child.

Some highlights of the race

I’m obsessed with this girl’s hairstyle! I need to try it on asap

---

A complicated fitness journey

I have always been an active person but I was never that kid whose parents enrolled them in an individual or group sport at 5 and they got scholarships for it. I didn’t grow up with that discipline in me. When my parents decided to put me in a private high school in my hometown, where more than half of my class was an athlete, I felt like an alien in a class full of kids who were representing the state in different kinds of sports.