Hey, Fat Girl.

i hope this is a true story even if it is not, i hope that it is what we all feel when we see someone new to the gym or the sidewalks, and i hope this is what people feel/felt about us as we all got started!

I wasn't the "fat girl" at this time, but in HS, i was deifnitely out of shape. I was self conscious, terrible at sports, and very very shy. Gym class was my worst nightmare every day. I remember in 9th grade, we had to run a mile on the track every day for gym before we started whatever lesson we were on. And I remember I hated it because I was so slow and it was so embarrassing; I just wanted to disappear. This girl in my class who was on the track team and ran cross country, I remember her running up next to me one day and saying "come on, run with me. I know you can do it!" And she ran with me that day. She pushed me to go faster than I thought I was able, but she slowed down for me (obviously since she was a distance runner she could have out paced me in second), ran with me and encouraged me to push myself. When I finished, I'd finished the mile the fasted I'd ever run it up to that point and I remember she congradulated me and told me "see! I knew you could do it!" We didn't be come bestest friends in the whole world or anything like that, and I was still shy and insecure and gym class was still terrifying, but she absolutely made my semester, and I'll never forget that she did that for me. It boosted my confidence and got me into running recreationally in HS, and now that I've gotten back into it almost 10 years later, I remember it every day when I go for a run and start to feel self conscious. People who are already athletic and in shape--you have no idea what a difference in someone's life you can make just by smiling at them from across the track, or giving them a thumbs up, telling them good job, or even just running with them. Sometimes for them, it can mean the difference between deciding it's the last day they're going to bother doing this, and pushing on to a healthier life.