A growing relationship with.....my body

                        Running really forces you to have a relationship with your body. Not just any relationship. A very intensely aware and respectful relationship with your body. I look back now at my days of doing the Master Cleanser and feeding my body lemon juice for 8 days and later thinking what would my body be thinking this very moment. Most likely asking, 'why are you not feeding me?'. I have nothing against fasting really, but when only feeding my own body nothing but lemon juice with paprika for 8 days I did feel very guilty not treating my body better. I did not see it as a healthy approach and so I vowed never to treat my body this way again. I would much rather do a vegetable juice fast though, that intuitively sounds more healthy. My body will be fed, fed very well....my cells will feast on yummy things. I am actually considering doing a juice fast but need to plan it first. It cannot be when I travel, or have some birthday, or holiday.....I need a few days in a row that have nothing in particular going on. I am doing daily juicing anyway. Daily I drink about 34 oz. of vegetable juice which I make in the morning, but I am curious to know how better nutrition would do to my running.

                       Last week I ran for 11 miles straight. I know this may be an easy task for some seasoned runners out there, but to me this was simply amazing and eye opening experience. Not only that but my body healed very quickly because I have been slowly doing more and more. After doing this how could I not have a renewed sense of respect for what my body and what it is able to accomplish. I once had a friend whom I complained to about my tummy. I told her that after 2 c-sections I was very unhappy with my mommy tummy. She suggested I talk to my tummy. I know, I made a face too and filed away the comment as senseless. But much, much later....years later, I still remember her words and now they have taken on a new meaning. Perhaps she meant instead of being mad at your body, have a relationship with it. I now embrace my body and feel proud of what it's proven to me it's able to do....

                      As a young woman going to high school in NYC I don't think I ever felt good about my body. My body was always this other entity that I needed to work with and tolerate. Waif-thin was always the goal and although I was not overweight, I was certainly not 'thin'. I look at my high school pictures now and think how much I'd love to be that body now.....what the HELL was I complaining about!! I guess years later I can only make it better by maybe saving my daughter from the same fate and making sure she grows up loving her body. But in all my years living with this mind body disconnect, running has been able to finally stop the mental chatter about my body not being right, not good enough, not this and not that. Running has delivered me to me....