I Received my Master’s in 2020, but Running was My Number One Achievement of the Year
I started 2020 knowing that I have one class remaining before graduating in May. I was so excited, and oh, so exhausted. I just needed to be done. I was looking forward to walking across that stage, smile plastered across my face, hearing the cheers of my family in the crowd, and accepting that diploma I so very much earned.
That didn’t happen though. Because….2020. Instead, I sat in front of my computer screen, fully robed up in graduation attire, and watched as my name popped up on the slideshow for a few seconds. And that was it. I got on a zoom call with family and celebrated with Indian food with my husband. It felt…anticlimactic. I was disappointed.
Two weeks later, I started running. I downloaded Couch to 5K on my phone, laced up my tennis shoes (really can’t call them running shoes. They were horrible), popped in some earphones, started my watch, and headed out the door. It was hard. I couldn’t even run for 30 seconds. But I persisted. Day after day, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, laced up my shoes, and hit the pavement. I wanted to quit. Every. Single. Day. The first several weeks, my body was in so much pain. All my muscles were sore. I was so out of shape, but even more than that, I was so overweight.
But slowly I started to get the hang of it. My legs would get into a rhythm with my heart and breathing, and slowly I would complete each segment of the run for the day. Eight weeks later, I graduated the C25k program. I was able to run for 30 minutes straight without stopping.
And I didn’t stop there. I continued running. I upgraded my shoes to a real pair of running shoes, and I kept going. I set new goals, and even bought a treadmill for the winter months.
I may have earned a master’s degree this year, but ultimately, my greatest achievement is that I became a runner, even after I wanted to quit every single day.
