Why Do I Run? (May 2017)
I run because the Doctor told me to. To manage my depression and anxiety.
I started running as a teen to compliment my sports and to lose weight.
I ran for solitude and head space.
Now I run to feel free. To get away from my own unease and to give my mind and body a purpose when they’re tormenting me.
I’ve recently set myself a little challenge. The Ringway is a 20 mile circular walk that skirts around the outside of our town. I’ve split it up into sectors with my house as the central point of the circle, and I’m going to run it. I’ve made rules; I have to run back out the same way I last returned. I have to do it in order, clockwise around the route. Each run will be between 5 and 10 miles, I am allowed to walk it if the terrain is tricky or it’s hard going, but I will achieve this.
I’ve mapped out a protective ring from my house, I’ve chosen a quiet route only frequented by ramblers and occasional dog walkers. I’ve chosen trails, woods, crags, rivers, fields and few roads and any day when my legs are up to it, my head will have to follow. It might take me a month, it might take me 6 months but I will do this.
The pleasure I felt when I began sector 2 was immense. I was returning out to my route the way I had ran back a few days ago. It was my route, I was returning to something I had ownership of and it was going to be a beautiful run. My legs carried me up the mile and a half hill back to the ringway point with a lightness I never usually feel running an elevation. I joined the ringway at a bridle path and felt my feet sure and strong pounding down one in front of the other. I loved the uncertain terrain, climbing up the crag in the stillness of the woods. It was my route. I am doing this.
As I left the Ringway at my designed point, I turned onto the road that would take me towards home and already I was itching to get back out again. It’s there, waiting for me and I can’t wait to get back out to it. I need this focus and I need to run.
