I was never an athlete. I was never really into sports. I ‘worked out’ in my uni gym in San Francisco and swam in the pool. There was chess and badminton when I was a child. Tried climbing (too expensive). I had a bike (mostly for work). No team sports. Nothing really stuck – either I was bored or I wasn’t fit enough.
It was Running that always interested me though and I always admired people who ran. It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s right outside my doorstep. I suppose the most precise time I decided I was going to Run for Good was when Xavier was about 6 months old; around the time David and I decided that 2 kids is enough. This meant that if I was to aim to get better at running, I wouldn’t have to take any further long running breaks (i.e. due to pregnancy). At that time, I still had 2 more months of maternity leave left so I ran like a maniac! I took Xavier with me in his buggy. We didn’t have a three-wheel running buggy but his was stable enough. He was my running buddy whilst still in my belly and now was my running buddy in his buggy. Running became part of our daily routine. In February 2021, I racked up 116.6 miles and in March 2021, I racked up 149.6 miles!
I have now been running continuously for 22 months. I hope I am now a bit faster and more efficient than when I started. I haven’t signed up to a local running club but I signed up to an online running community, Run Mummy Run, which has lots of inspiring stories from Mums who run. I have since ran 3 marathons and the 2 10-miler races with David (more on these later). I am not yet at a point where I can really achieve Personal Bests. For now, my personal best is always just the last run I did. Lacing up and getting out is good enough for me.
This and the last 2 posts shed a bit of light of where the madness is coming from. In a nutshell, I am a person who is easily bored and can’t sit still so I’ve acquired 3 non-boring activities that I bounce from one to another to keep me sane and ironically, focused.
Side note: I finally finished my exam this past Friday. Results not out til a month from now. Fingers crossed. But also, applications for Oncology Specialty Registrar jobs just opened. Just one thing after another.
Reach for the Seven Stars 