77/23

 .77 miles and 23 minutes. That may not mean much to you but to me it means the world. Why? This once very active girl hit the gym for the first time since leaving NYC! I hit the treadmill… at a really…. slow… pace. As I listened to my songs on shuffle I looked around and teared up for a hot second. I may not be the woman running quickly on the treadmill in the corner in front of me. I may not be the guy on the Peloton cycling to the beat. I may not be the old me who would be on the elliptical doing an Aaptive workout. What I am is the new me. An ever changing me that ebbs and flows with how my body feels. A new me that is sometimes hard to accept. I don’t know what inspired me to hit the gym. I was avoiding it due to the Coronavirus. That’s the last thing I need to get. However, it’s getting cold in the Windy City and the whipping wind outside whispered, “Do it Jess! Go to the gym and get a piece of you back.” You know what? That’s exactly what I did. As I walked to “30/90” from “Tick, Tick… BOOM!” I reclaimed a piece of me that’s been missing on this cancer journey. A physically active me. A Jess at the gym! For a brief moment I felt a little like my old self mixed in with the new me. It wasn’t the miles that mattered but the moment and the movement forward that did. I took a step forward for those who aren’t physically able to. I took a step forward for the future me. I took a step forward and reminded myself to keep going. 

77/23. Maybe, one day, someone can write a song about those numbers and turn it into a Broadway musical.