13 Trial Lawyer • Spring 2022 I Fell in Love With Running ...And You Can Too By Dana Sullivan OTLA Guardian For the past 20 years, I have had a love affair with running. Running motivates me to get out of bed in the morning. Running is convenient and accessible. I love that in ten minutes I can throw on my running clothes, tie up my shoes and be ready to head out the door, no matter where I am. Running is flexible. It offers me whatever I need on a given day. I can set a goal for my run or can simply enjoy an opportunity to meditate, focusing only on my breath and the rhythm of my steps. Running can be communal. It has brought me wonderful friendships and provides me a regular opportunity for connection and conversation. Running has taught me a lot about myself and has inspired me to pursue goals that once seemed impossible. My feelings toward running have not always been affectionate. In elementary school, I was a chunky kid whose preferred form of exercise was walking from the couch to the television to change the channel. While I spent a lot of time on my bicycle roaming our suburban subdivision with neighborhood friends, that was more adolescent diversion than “exercise.” The bane of my existence was the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. Implemented by the Johnson administration to promote health and fitness among children, the Presidential Fitness Test was an annual requirement at my school. It included various physical challenges, including sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. You also had to complete a mile run in under 12 minutes. Unlike academic testing, which I felt allowed me to demonstrate my strengths, each year when the time came for the Presidential Fitness Test, I found myself filled with despair as my classmates lapped me several times as I trudged around the perimeter of the field, never certain I would finish within the target time. In high school, I participated in team sports, which I enjoyed. Yet, even then, running was simply a means to an end rather than an activity that brought me joy in and of itself. In fact, I continued to view it as an unwelcome challenge that I was never completely confident I could master. My junior year, a coach told me if I wanted to make varsity, I would need to improve my overall fitness. She suggested I start running after practice. Since it was important to me to move up to the varsity team and running was essential for me to get there, I put in the time to improve my pace and agility. However, I found little joy in those after-practice sessions even though, in the end, I accomplished my goal. As a young adult, I ran off and on. However, it was an exercise regimen I turned to only when I felt I needed an expeditious way to slim down. My episodic running was generally paired with a fad diet and feelings of inadequacy. It never lasted for very long. More to offer In 2002, at the age of 35, I took up running again. But this time it was different. I was the mother of two small children — a newborn and a three-yearold. I had recently changed jobs and was adjusting to the responsibilities of being a partner. I had an aging father on the east coast whose health was declining. My husband was working full time as a high school teacher. As had been my pattern in the past, the notion to resume running was motivated primarily by the desire to lose weight and improve my fitness. However, this time I saw running had more to offer than just an effective way to fit into old jeans. It offered a challenging workout I could squeeze in Dana Sullivan See Running p 14
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