Now, let me start this by saying that I have never been a fan of running.  Like golf, I have always thought that it was a cruel and evil way to ruin a perfectly good walk. But over the past few months my view on this has changed (on running, not on golf….golf is, and always will be, a huge waste of time!).  Running was like my Achilles heel.  I couldn’t do it, didn’t enjoy it and found it tough and mind numbingly boring. Never one to be bested by anything I downloaded the couch to 5k app (about a year ago now) and took to the bog road.  I still remember my first attempt, thinking my heart was going to explode as the annoying, nails-on-blackboard, American voice ordered me to run for 45 seconds.  An unnatural hatred festered inside me towards this condescending Yank, who thought she could push me around and tell me what to do.  She didn’t even know me, for God’s sake, and didn’t seem to care if I was having a shitty day and just need some kind words and a bubble bath.  But I persevered and today I can run 5k without stopping and without having my finger poised over the Emergency services number on my phone. And do you know what the big secret is? It’s to stop thinking about running, to switch your brain off from what you are actually doing and to just let it wander.

When I ran today, in the glorious, crisp spring sunshine (winter is officially fecking over…Yay!!) my mind was in overdrive thinking about the chapter I am working on at the moment.  I ran through where I need to go next, thought about what the characters would say, discovered what their home and their landscape looked like and before I knew it I was on the home straight.  And I was bloody buzzing!  With “Jai Ho” (epic running song by the way) pumping through my earphones and a big smile plastered on my face, I rounded the last corner and know that if anyone had spotted me, at that very moment, they would have ran screaming for the men in white coats to come and take me away.  There is nothing like the feeling after a run.  You feel like you have accomplished something and the adrenaline stays pulsing in your body for hours after.

I know I will still have days where I run and it will be so hard that I’d gladly be hung, drawn and quartered instead.  But I also know that for each of these days there will be days like today, where it works and the fall of each footstep on the path will go unnoticed as my brain flies away to a different place.  A bit like writing.

So, run Forest run…whenever you can!

Debs

ps…forget to mention the word count.  Didn’t write any of the book today.  Not don’t be mad, please. I had a 500 word theatre review to write (look at me all lah dee dah and writing theatre reviews!) so I did write today and if  you include this blog I’ve tapped out over a 1000 words. Boo-ya!  All creative so get off my back why don’t you!  🙂