In my case, literally running away became a solution. Running. Yes, running. That’s something that other people do. Some of my friends, who are the busiest people I know, find time and energy to run. I always thought that that was for them. Why run when you can stroll? Why get puffed when you can sigh? I always thought that there would be too many bits of skin that would continue to move after I had stopped. Momentum can be a frightening thing.
One night languishing in bed, after eating too much and lounging in front of the TV for too long, I started researching physical activities for women of a certain age. (And you know I’m not talking about teenagers here). You see, lack of time is not an issue for me. I have heaps up my sleeve in the period of a day or week. Mostly, when not working, I used it up daydreaming or watching mindless TV. A wasted life, you might think. Then I discovered the joys of riding my bike. But I needed something else as well. More rigour. More heart pounding stuff.
I kept stumbling upon the option of running. How it wasn’t just for the young and restless. All I had to do was put one foot in front of the other. So I decided that not having properly fitted running shoes wouldn’t deter me. I decided that having end of year celebrations, parties and family gatherings wouldn’t be a reason not to start. I decided that not having any training or warm up wouldn’t stop me either. I ran a couple of blocks initially and realised that my body didn’t keep moving after I had stopped, my heart seemed OK with it and my breathing found its own rhythm. I realised that I could and it’s all good. I’ve since been fortunate enough to get some real running shoes (what a magnificent difference to my feet) and I’ve signed up for a fun run. And it actually might be fun too!
Running is now part of my routine and running away from my problems has been the best solution. That’s not to say that I no longer have problems, but I think that might be a topic for another blog.
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