Running to the corner, running very fast…
My friends and family know that I am currently training for my first marathon…
You ask, “What has this to do with being a city girl practicing law in the country?” Absolutely nothing – but it is part of my life journey so thought “why not share it with you”. When I say ‘absolutely nothing’ – that is not completely true… I initially started running to assist with coping with the stress of my job.
I have spent the last 5 months training for this marathon (which is in 2 weeks – eek!!). To be honest, when I started I couldn’t run 3 minutes without a walk in between runs – so getting to this point I feel a great sense of accomplishment.
This dream of running a marathon all started in childhood whilst watching the marathoners at the Olympics and eventually turned into a “bucket list” item.
As I celebrated a significant birthday this year it became apparent that it was time to start working my way through “the list”. So here I am 2 weeks out and ready to run!
Last Saturday was my final “long run” before the big race – 36kms. You would be surprised what goes through your mind as you pound away the hours on a long run. It can be tedious and a little boring but also lonely, so the mind often wanders to different things…
There have been numerous points in my life when running was a preferred past time…
The first as a child – I used to love that moment when you feel so free just running around with no care in the world. I remember that I used to do laps in the playground of my siblings’ school (whilst waiting for them to finish each day) and singing a little ditty, which goes like this:
“Running to the corner, running very fast, running to the corner, getting there at last… I’m puff puff puff, puff, puffing, I’m puffing alot – I’m hot hot hot…”
I could do these laps and sing this song for what felt like hours but what I’m sure was probably closer to 30 minutes.
The second recollection of running as a preferred past time is not such a fond memory but one that got me to where I am today.
I suffered from bulimia for 14 years (from the age of 10 to 24) and in the last few years of that struggle running became an important part of my life… I used to run to ‘the corner’ and run ‘very fast’ to try get away from the “dark” thoughts in my mind… Thankfully with great support from family, friends and a really good counsellor I managed to put that part of my life behind me and move on.
Which brings to today – with running becoming a preferred past time. I now run with the healthier goal of using running to de-stress (and fulfilling a childhood dream!).
The thing that you quickly realise with attempting to run such a race is that it will take all your inner strength of mind (and not just of body) on race day. All the prior experiences – running for fun, running to escape, running for mental well being will all come into play.
I know I will require a lot of perseverance to get across the finish line but as those close to me know – once I put my mind to something I am “like a dog with a bone” and will not give up until I have accomplished what I set out to achieve.
I have a time in mind but am not sure I will be able to make it. However, the real aim this year is to just get across the finish line.
If you have a spare moment on the morning of July 1 – spare a thought for me and the many others running in the Gold Coast Marathon (@GCMarathon), as we run to the corner and try and run very fast…
I’ll let you know how I go…
