Almost an Athlete

BP = 113/75 Pulse = 55

Those beautiful numbers are my blood pressure today. I've been off my bp medicine for weeks now and it looks like she's holdin steady. And my doctor said I'd be on medicine for the rest of my life...pffftt. Eat your heart out doc!

My resting pulse is what really gets me though- a year ago my resting pulse was typically in the 80's and 90's, but now I've got a pulse closer to an athlete's pulse. So you know what that means?

I'm almost an athlete!

Athlete or even athletic is one of those descriptors I never thought I would use for myself, kinda like Astronaut, Philanthropist, Transvestite, etc., but here I am 20 years later after nearly failing the Presidential Fitness Test (passed only because of sympathetic gym teacher), and am almost an athlete. I'm not sure when or if I'll ever be comfortable enough to describe myself as such, maybe when I can finally do a pull-up, or maybe when I run a half-marathon, but I'll always probably think if myself as geeky bookworm with crafty proclivities who also happens to run. Not that it's important how we or others decide to label ourselves, but one of the most important things I learned in that transition from adolescence to adulthood (i.e., the 20's) was that it is what we do that defines who we are, not what we think we are or what we hope to be.

So if you run, you are a runner. If you make art, you are an artist. You don't have to be a particularly good artist to be considered one (think Jackson Pollock), nor do you have to be an elite or fast runner to be called a runner (and the term 'jogger' is so 1980's, so lets banish that term immediately).

Even if you go out for a 6 mile run, and only manage 5 miles (1 mile of which is walked) because you feel like such crap, and you come home and throw your shoe at the wall because you're so disgusted, you are still a runner. Sigh.