blood is flowing to my face

I jogged a 13-minute mile tonight, and in case anyone was wondering, I am no Wilson Kipsang, who will run a 4-minute 43-second mile in this year's Olympics.

Now that we've clarified that, I'd like to say this is a little bit of a big deal for me. I am not a runner, so please erase any graceful mental image you may have of me running in circles around my neighbor's house. I'm very self-conscious about how I look while chugging away, to the point that when the yard men pulled into the driveway this morning, my morning exercise session promptly ended, at 9/10 of a mile.

Two weeks ago I decided to run a 5k (a midnight run), and it's this Friday. It's not the first time, you know, I've made spontaneous physical decisions, and put complete trust in my body to get me through.

We've been through a lot in the past two years, this body and I.

If you'd have told me two years ago that I'd be running jogging twice a day and doubling my distance in a week, and that I'd be a vegetarian and constructing my grocery list with a copy of "The Doctors Book of Food Remedies" open next to me, and drinking copious amounts of water and green tea, and rarely touching fast food and not eating after 7 p.m., I'd have laughed at you.

It's about the small steps adding up to big ones, and we all have to start somewhere.

I started almost two years ago at the heaviest I've ever been, and gradually I've worked myself to where I am today. Of course, there's been mess-ups and fluctuation. I've been frustrated with myself and my body, which is really like a system of dials and knobs, each one having to be adjusted just-so in order to get the results I want. And half the time it feels like a giant guessing game. I'm not the skinniest I want to be or the most athletic.

But for today, I'm where I need to be....

...jogging my little mile a couple times a day, eating fresh pineapple for its benefits to my joints, and consuming fish a few times a week for Omega-3 fatty acids...

...and having no preconceived fantasies of how I look while sweating it out.