The Sin of Pride

Running a 10K on lovely, cool summer morning is akin to chewing a plaque tablet. You remember those little pink tablets that the dentist used to give us, or they’d hand out at school during dental hygiene week? The ones that you chewed after brushing and then opened your mouth and saw all the plaque you missed? Well running is just like that.

I was inordinately proud of myself for finishing my first 10K and I’m pretty sure, I made sure everyone else knew about it… “I’ll have paper bags and did I mention I ran a 10K this morning?” I could be heard saying at the grocery store or “No, come on over for dinner, I ran the 10K this morning, but I still have plenty of time to make dinner for twelve” to friends. And then I got in the shower and was instantly transported back to being the annoying know-it all seven year old insisting that I’m the perfect teeth brusher, only to be knocked off my high horse by those stupid pink pills.

Now I’m someone who is happiest when the water is just shy of scalding. But on this day, the day of my athletic triumph, I kept turning the temperature down, and down and further down. In fact I turned it so far down, even my husband, who prefers to shower in what can barely be called tepid water, was turning it up. And then it dawned on me, it was the pink pill effect. Here I was feeling all good about running, basking in my general in-shapeness and I realized that the temperature felt so hot because I was freezing – or at least certain parts of me were. Parts like my hips and butt and other places fat likes to collect. My thighs and arms and other muscled areas were still warm from the expenditure of energy, but the rest of me, not so much so. Who knew that running a 10K would actually highlight, much like those pink pills, all the areas I need to work on?? And I was feeling so good about myself. I guess pride really does come back to bite you in the butt…and apparently everywhere else you have fat.