It was raining, the sky dull and frigid, ground covered in muddy puddles, yet Catherine still ran her usual three miles past the park and through the lengthy neighborhood.

    Her head was pounding and her stomach growled,tears threatened to escape her regretful eyes. She was a raindrop away from turning back and going home.

      One breath in, one breath out. One Breath in, one breath out, One breath in- Catherine stopped, her breathing strained and heavy, beads of sweat accumulated atop her makeup heavy face.

    She just wanted to go home. Home to her daughter and newborn son. Home to her husband and mother. Home to failure.

    It was best to keep running.

    Catherine shook her head, and started to run once more, passing the rundown park. Just a little further.

    She didn't want this, in fact she despised running. Her flat feet had always prevented her from running without care, instead burdening her with pain and blisters. But pain meant beauty, so she persisted.

    One breath in, one breath out. One breath in, one breath out. One breath in, one breath out. The music playing through her earbuds mocked her, lyrics of picture perfect lives and stunning beach bodies. She had neither of those things.

    Society didn't like Catherine, at least in her eyes, and granite neither did she. To Catherine, her thighs were bigger than her confidence. She ran faster.

    As the rain stopped, so had her run. She was sweaty, tired, and starved, but as she opened the wooden door to her home the first thing she did was run to the bathroom.

    Her son was crying, and being soothed by his grandmother, but Catherine tuned it all out- those things could wait.

    Tossing off her mud stained shoes and sweaty gym attire, Catherine hopped onto the glass scale.

    Error.

    Frustrated she got off and tried again, thinking light thoughts and sucking in her gut.

    There was a pause, before the blank scale revealed the number 131.  

    Catherine smiled, through her teeth more than her eyes, and let out a sigh of relief. She was two pounds lighter than the day before.

    Just a few more pounds till her goal.

    “Just one more run and it'll all be over”, she said with a sigh, repeating the same thing she had said every day that past month, “ Just one more run until perfection”.