She's Doing It

Spent some time with a beautiful lady over the holiday weekend.

I hope you're lucky enough to have a woman like this in your life. She's the one that always seems to be smiling. When she spends time with you, you can tell she's totally dialed in. She asks questions about your life ... and remembers the answers even if you don't see her for long stretches of time. You know she runs a complicated household filled with kids, jobs, the everyday stresses of a husband (adorable as he may be) and yet she never seems to talk about herself. She's just one of those people who cares ... genuinely cares ... about everybody.

And when it's time to say goodnight or goodbye after seeing her, you feel so good because she's made you feel so good. And then you wonder if you held up your end of the bargain, because you realize she spent the whole conversation talking about you and you worry that you just weren't that thoughtful and generous in return.

Last summer, we were at a shindig together and she started asking me about how my running was going. How my knees were doing. What other things I was doing for exercise. I didn't think twice about it, jabbered on and on and never once asked about her.

Then, earlier this fall, we meet up again. She kindly inquired about my workout status. I started blathering, and very quietly, almost imperceptibly, she said something along the lines of, "I started running, too."

(This is where you hear that record-scratching sound that only children of the 70's remember in your head.)

What?

She said is so shyly and so inconspicuously, I almost missed it.

She's running.

I couldn't stop grinning. I wanted to know everything. How? When? Why? Was she getting out of it what she wanted to?

But I didn't want to scare her by going into full "I-love-running-don't-you-love-running-let's-talk-running" mode. So I asked questions. Smiled a lot. Learned that she has a big event coming up and wanted to lose a little weight for that.

She said she walked at first. Then ran a little, but was only going out in the twilight because she didn't want anyone to see her. I was so excited I couldn't stand it. I could tell she was committed and that she was going to stick with it.

So when Thanksgiving rolled around, I couldn't wait to check in and see how it was all going.

And, guess what? She's lost 40 pounds. She didn't tell me that, but her husband was doing a bit of bragging on her.

I'm so excited that she's found something she likes to do. I'm so thrilled that she's feeling better and stronger and more confident. I'm over the moon that she's realized that the best part of it all isn't losing the weight.

"When I get home from work and I'm all stressed out, I can't wait to get out there and clear my head," she said. "I feel better about me."

Because in the end, whether you've chosen running, walking, rollerblading or something else altogether, that's s what it's all about.