Beginning Runner Not Yet Confident Enough to Try It Without Floaties
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main image: depositphotos.com
A local woman who took up running two months ago is still using inflatable arm bands, Dumb Runner has learned, because she’s still “a little scared” to try running without them.
Birdee Pruitt, 24, said she probably no longer needs the safety devices—she has been on several runs of three miles or more by herself, and gotten along just fine—but is finding it hard to stop using them.
“I guess they’re sort of like a security blanket,” Pruitt said, laughing. “I admit I’m a little scared to go out for a run without them.”
Pruitt said she never learned to run as a child, and decided on her 24th birthday that it was time to do so.
“It’s sort of embarrassing to be a grown-up and not know how to run,” she said, “so it was hard, but I sucked it up and signed up for classes.”
The first few runs, she said, were “very short, very slow, and sort of nerve-racking.” But she persisted, and within a few weeks was running a mile nonstop.
“I was wearing my floaties the whole time,” she said, “so I guess I probably associate them with success, hence the difficulty in giving them up.”
Pruitt said that she does intend to try a short run without her “floaties” sometime soon, and pointed out that she’s already well on her way.
“Up until a week ago,” she said, “I was still using goggles and a big inflatable swan.”
“I got this!” she added.
