Keep on Running

Hannah was running the London Marathon while we were on the sidelines with pints of Shandy and cheers. I took this as she ran past. We told her to keep going and that she was doing great. She said her feet hurt.

“It’s the cheers that keep you going” that’s what they say. I’ve never run a marathon and don’t think I ever will but last week I started running again. I ran on Thursday and last night too. I ran by the sea and the oyster catchers scuttled across my path. I’m excited to be running again. The thing is I’ve been a bit ill since Christmas. I’ve not been able to cycle or run or even walk too far.

It’s been frustrating. All sorts of strange things kept happening to me. For two weeks I couldn’t move for 2 hours every morning. The doctors said it was an arthritic hangover, over night my muscles were seizing up and in the morning they just didn’t work. It’s taken a few months to recover and at the same time a close family member was diagnosed with cancer. On top of that I’ve been having building work in my flat. It was supposed to take a few days and it’s ended up taking 9 weeks.

So all in all I was struggling a bit but I didn’t really tell people. I thought it would pass and I’d be alright. I managed to keep up with work but I didn’t manage to keep up with all of my friends or the social things that were happening around me.

Eventually I realised I needed to be brave and tell people I was struggling. When you’re going through something difficult you need people to cheer you on, to tell you to keep going. Just to be there with you on the sidelines.

So I did it, I told a bunch of people I trust and things started to get better. Just the act of telling people in itself was so good. I think it’s hard to admit you can’t do things sometimes or to admit you need help but we do need each other. Last week I started running again and I remembered… it’s the cheers that keep us going!

 

Speed of Light

This August Arthur’s Seat will be ablaze with the lights of hundreds of choreographed runners in light suits. It’s NVA’s Speed of Light. You can buy a ticket but just to warn you, I’m one of those runners. I ran about in a light tunnel at The Edinburgh Camera Obscurer to create this artists impression of what we might look like.

Actually I’m slightly concerned that you’ll be ooo-ing and ahh-ing at the fusion of public art and sporting endeavours when somebody will shout “What’s that?”. You spot a lone set of lights on the edge of the crags, hurrying to catch up with the others. Perhaps it’s a gymnast about to do something spectacular? No, on closer inspection the lone light appears to be slowing down. It’s ruining the display completely, why is it there? Now the renegade light is lying on the ground, it’s stopped…   That will be me if I don’t get fit.

For over a month now I’ve been running every other day. Well almost. I substituted a few of my runs for Zumba and a couple of long bike rides but I’ve still run more than I’ve ever run before. I’m not at the speed of light (or even 10k fit) but I’ve got a few weeks to go.

I persuaded a few bright sparks to sign up to run in Speed of Light including Peggy Hughes, Anna Beswick and Al Innes. Leah Lockhart and Marianne Paget signed up voluntarily!

How’s the training going? Well I’ve got a little bit thinner and I’ve started to almost enjoy running. If I run in the rain people say things like “rather you then me” or “well done!”, I quite like that. Animals do funny things too. I saw a crow sit down on the grass like a duck, crows never sit down. I also often race a vole that pops out of a hole in the wall. He sees me and runs as fast as he can along the bottom of the wall until he gets to the next hole where he disappears.

Now I’m wondering, what will it really look like? There are photos on the NVA website but I’ve found something even better. Hurrah for Wales – they’ve done something similar, light suits and everything. I imagine we’ll all look something like these sheep: