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Don't ever tell Forrest Gump you're a runner!

My life might very well be like a box of chocolates, but my box doesn't like to be opened until after the sun rises.

This is going to be a protracted post because I think I'm coming down with a cold and I need to go crawl back under the covers. Why am I sick? Because I was doing something healthy!

I've lost 50 pounds this year mostly from improving my diet and running enough miles to cross the continent. Now that the colder months have arrived, however, I find my hibernation instincts are overruling my exercise ones, and I haven't been running nearly as much. I'm also indulging a little too much on the holiday treats.

My running partner is in another time zone right now, but she has been getting after me to get my butt (I cleaned that up since this is a family friendly website) back out on the road. Since that wasn't working, she called in the big guns.

For the past two mornings, Forrest Gump has arrived at the House on the Hill at 5:45 a.m. and pounded on the door until I answered. He then launched into one of his one-sided conversations about shrimp until that woke me up enough to put on my running gear and join him for a run.

Mercifully, Forrest has agreed to let me start out at 3 miles until I get my legs back under me. We both know I can do 5 miles in a heartbeat once I've shaken off the cobwebs, but his Mama always told him not to push since that only leads to pulled muscles.

This morning, it was in the 50s rather than the usual teens, so I almost didn't mind the run. It was the rain, which started coming down in torrents at about the halfway point, that really made me want to dislike the guy in the red hat running next to me. "Run, Austin, run!" was all he'd say over and over as the rain poured down even harder.

It's hard to hate Forrest. He's as sweet as shrimp ice cream plus the guy runs 15 miles just to get to my place, so I really shouldn't be a wimp about a mere three miles... but it was raining. And it was dark. Combining the two meant that I kept stepping into puddles. My socks were soaked. My sweatpants were soaked. My sweatshirt was soaked. Ugh!

Alas, we made it back to the House on the Hill before this sugar cube melted from the rain drops. Forrest promised to give me tomorrow off as a recovery day, but he promised (threatened???) to come a-calling again on Friday.

So what about you? Are you keeping more than just your brain healthy? What fictional character pushes you to keep up with your workouts? Would any of you like to take Forrest off my hands? Drop me a line. I'm not going anywhere. My legs are sore, my nose is running faster than I was this morning, and I just want to sleep all day...

Credits - WorldwideRunning.com would like to thank the blog The Return of the Modern Philosopher (http://moviewriternyu.wordpress.com) for the authorization to reprint the article "Don't Ever Tell Forrest Gump You're A Runner!" by Austin Hodgens.