Today was the first day that I ran since Lila was born. As I said in my eulogy, running was going to be a thing that Lila and I did together. I wanted to continue running because, in my mind, that time is still dedicated to Lila. I ran in the apartment gym and only ran about two miles. I felt a lot of emotions in those short two miles. I was sad that I was doing this without Lila. I felt angry and hit the treadmill with my hand a few times, once stopping the treadmill. I thought I broke it but luckily it started up again. I thought about Lila the whole time and it helped me throughout the run. It's been over a month since I last ran and I'm out of shape but thinking about Lila and what I want to do for her helped make the run better. I thought about the 5k race that I want to do for Lila and possibilities of when we could have it. I think running will help me. Before Lila was born, I would sometimes have difficulty with motivation to get out the door. I see that being less of an issue now because my motivation will be spending time with my Lila.

-Mike