On becoming a runner

I had quite the grueling day at work yesterday, but when I crawled into bed after midnight I set my alarm for 8:30am so I could run before work. I know, normally running before work involves a 5am alarm, but I worked overtime today from 11am-7:30pm, so I had some daylight hours to burn before heading to the hospital. I finally got my groggy butt to the track around 9:30am for a quick workout.
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I ran 1 mile in 10:19, walked 2 minutes, and ran another mile in 10:40. I'm no speed demon; these times are pretty fast for me. I usually run at about 11:30/mile, so I was pushing myself this morning. I'm ecstatic that I can run a consecutive mile! I definitely wasn't doing that a few weeks ago. I'm trying to stop focusing on unrealistic goals and just keep pushing myself (within friendly, non-injury limits of course) to improve regardless of where I'm "supposed" to be after 4 months of running 3 times a week!
I read this blog post today and I really loved it! The author is a vegeterian and marveling at how far he's come even since his pescaterian days. While making a tofu recipe, he notices that a sauce he's using tastes fishy (literally). He says:

I took a look at the label and read that it contained shrimp. For the tiniest fraction of a second, the old me, the still-eating-fish-every-once-in-a-while-and-certainly-not-giving-a-damn-about-shrimp me, thought, "Just go ahead and use it. You bought it, you're stuck with it. Nobody will even notice."
But immediately I knew that I couldn't do it. That there was no chance I'd do it. Exactly like when some tiny part of you really doesn't feel like running or going to the gym, but there's no question that you're going to do it.
Because it's part of you; that's who you are.

I'm no more than a wannabe vegeterian... it's the running part that got to me: you know you're a runner when some tiny part of you really doesn't feel like it, but there's no question that you're going to do it. I had plenty of reasons to avoid running this morning. Even though I put it off for an hour, I knew in the back of my mind that I was still going to go. There will be plenty other days when I will really have to psych myself up to run, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I WANT to run! I don't want to go more than a few days without it. It really does make me feel better and best of all, it's becoming a part of me.