In Your FACE: Fourth-Grade-Self!

I OWN this track! --wearing my favorite SFSU college shirt and socks to show my pride!

As many of you know, I was born with severe heart defects. I have faced 3 open-heart surgeries and probably more to come. My life isn't that much different from healthy people. But I do take my health very seriously and have to pace myself throughout activities. But I just started running in May and it has been really good for me. I pace myself and take it easy and do a lot of run/walk training. To this date (July 12) I have run/walked 106 miles! (which is CRAZY!)

Because of my heart defects, I have a much lighter tolerance for physical exertion than most people. Obviously I suffer from circulation issues, so I give out more easily during activities. Way back in fourth grade, when we had to run the mile in PE, I think my time was upwards of 12 minutes. I was SLOOOOW. To give perspective, an average fast mile time is about 7 minutes.

The next year in fifth grade when mile-day came around, my friend and I literally did a rain dance before PE, praying that it would cancel outdoor activities and we'd get a pass. The rain dance didn't work for obvious reasons (we didn't do it right) and out we went. About 3/4 of the way through I gave out and could NOT finish it to save my life. The teacher also had a strict policy against walking! So I "slipped" on some gravel and claimed that I had hurt my foot and could not go on! (I played up the melodramatics a bit.) My mom even came to get me and bring me home. She was really sympathetic when I told her the truth.

My major repair operation was when I was four years old. The surgeons had given me a pacemaker to keep my heart beating, but they took it out when I was seven. Anyways, after some years, the valve starts deteriorating and that was exactly what was happening with me and it was affecting my energy levels and physical activity.

So by the time I got to Middle School, I played the heart-card whenever we had to run. It wasn't exactly dishonest, but for health reasons, I should have at least tried. The thing was that I hated running. I was twelve, so I can't be too hard on myself. It went on like that through middle school and highschool until I had another open-heart surgery at age 15 to replace the valve.

After that surgery I felt like Superlady! I became much more active. I started treadmill running and joined a gym, but didn't like doing more than I could. Everyone could see the huge fresh surgery cut peeking over the collar of my shirt as well, so they would tell me to stop jumping around and sit down-- I had just been through major surgery! (I make people nervous.) With only a semester of PE after my surgery, I never had to run the dreaded mile.

So six years after high school, as I'm walk-jogging along, I timed myself for a new record.

In May, I had possibly a 20-minute mile. Which is awful by normal standards, but pretty good for me!

In June I got down to a 13:45 mile. My fourth grade self with her puny little legs was still beating me, but it was nice to be under 20 minutes. I could see that I was steadily improving.

So on July 3rd (my 24 and a half birthday, no less) after having a terrible day, I went out on a track with my friend Mary to test it out for real. She and I have been friends since we were eight. She's a runner and has completed a half-marathon! She jogged alongside me as my cheerleader and timed me as I thoroughly paced myself through one mile. Every so often she would scream that zombies were behind me (which freaks me out) and I would speed up briefly. I also told her she could shout insults at me like a drill sergeant (she did not disappoint). During the last stretch I sprinted and Mary almost tripped over herself to keep up (I have longer legs).

I finished with a sprint and a new lifetime personal record of 10:35! Take THAT 10-year-old Me! I didn't even try to fall over to get out of it. And when I was done, I wasn't dying either because I had made sure to pace myself even when "zombies" were behind me. Mary also made sure to snap a Captain Morgan Style picture to show how much of a bad ass I've become.

To celebrate my newfound love for running and my new record, I bought a sports shirt that says "Run Happy" on it. This way I remember to smile when I'm huffing and puffing around.

I'm hoping to get my time down to under 10 minutes by the end of the summer, but for now, I am extremely grateful to be able to run!

~Wish me luck!