Not Born to Run

My family has a disproportionate number of marathon runners. Erica has run four of them so far. Cameo and Heidi, my step-daughters, have done a few, as well as my niece and nephew April and Ryan. My niece Molly did one before injuring her knee, and my nephew Michael and wife Anne compete in race-walking. Right now my brother-in-law Terry is heading out east where he will compete Monday in the Boston Marathon, having qualified in Duluth last summer with a time of 3 1/2 hours. He is 48 years old, a year younger than me, and ran 26.2 miles in 3 1/2 hours. So how come I'm the captain of the Couch Potato Brigade?!!
I've never been particularly athletic. In grade school there were perpetual scabs on my knees from unsuccessfully trying to jump on the moving merry-go-round. In phy ed I never got more than a foot off the ground in rope-climbing--I was afraid of heights, plus my noodle arms couldn't pull my chubby butt any higher. No President's Physical Fitness award for me! Once during a gymnastics unit, I was attempting to vault the horse. As I made my leap, my feet got stuck between the horse and my upper body. For a second I was motionless--before toppling backwards onto the mat, much to the amusement of my Olympic-prospect classmates. That incident left me petrified of the hurdles in track and field, where I would prissily lift my leg over the side of the hurdle--like a dog peeing--with no actual jumping involved.
I did become a dedicated jogger a few times in my 20s when I was dieting for various occasions. I'd even do daily exercises for thighs, butt, and abs. Amazingly I was down to 115 pounds for awhile when Katie was around 2 years old. (Right now you're all thinking "What the hell happened?!")
As we learned in school, there are 3 basic body types: ectomorph = thin; mesomorph = muscular; endomorph ="having a heavy rounded body build often with a marked tendency to become fat." I call it endo-rear-endo. I come from a long line of endomorphs on both sides of my family, especially the females. Between that, my love of food, and indifference to exercise, am I doomed to this apple shape forever? Getting the weight off is one thing; keeping it off is another. Since hitting 40, even getting it off is way harder than it was in my 20s and 30s. I do walk a lot with the dogs, go bowling, and do housework marathons--none of which qualify as high-level vascular work-outs. My dad died at my age--what am I waiting for??
When I made my life list in January, I said I wanted to get in decent enough shape to do a 5K. I'd better throw out the rest of the Easter candy and get my endo-rear-endo in gear.