How Jogging is Saving My Life

A week before Rosh Hashanah I quit smoking, and two days after quitting smoking I started jogging again. Only weeks later I am up to jogging 5k three days a week and I'm really enjoying it.

Dad is warning me not to enjoy it too much and push myself too hard. Says I shouldn't increase distance for the next few months, just work on improving what I'm already doing until it's incredibly easy. Apparently younger people are the most prone to overrunning because they think they can just push themselves so hard without injury. I really want to train for a race, but I think for now I'm going to just work on improving my fitness level.

It's great to be able to eat whatever I want and not gain any weight. While I'm not losing tonnes of weight my belly is starting to shrink a bit so at the very least I'm toning up and burning some fat. Definitely have more energy lately than I think I've had in years.

The anti-depressant effects have been amazing. A lot of life's hard blows have been washed away during and after a good jog. It's helped me to centre my focus and deal with a lot of my problems. Not to mention I look forward to it. Honestly don't know why I stopped for so long after recovering from sciatica. It's been one of the few things keeping me going.

Too many negative things have happened recently that there needs to be some beacon of light in my lonely world. I don't have anyone to cuddle. Friends are never around. I let people use me. Most days I feel like a number or a cog.

Jogging is one of the rare times I get to be me. It's the time when I can put on my runners, rock a tznius workout friendly outfit and listen to whatever I want on the iPod (lately it's been French electro). Or the ritual of my mid-jog break to stop for water at the park fountain and say shehakol over the precious liquid. The breezes Hashem sends me right when I need cooling off. Watching the leaves change with the season-- green, yellow, orange, red, maroon. The crisp Canadian morning air. The list goes on. Every time I go jogging I find something new to appreciate.

I think I will try to use this space to expand upon that list.