All I wanted for Christmas…
This is for all those whose Santas wish lists included GPS watches, compression tights, heart rate monitors and racing flats. For anyone who started off Christmas Day with a hills session or snuck out of the family gathering before dinner for a recovery run. For people whose festive menu included pudding with protein shake or panettone with an energy gel. For all you running tragics out there, I HEAR YOU!
If, like me, you wake up around kilometer three and don’t like to face the world without a sweaty run under your (hydration) belt, the festive season can be unsettling territory. Firstly, how the hell are you expected to navigate tense family dynamics or sit through painful bonbon jokes without your sanity-saving workout? Secondly, do you really have to wait til Boxing Day to try out your new running toys? And lastly, it would be a waste of ridiculously yummy food to front up to Christmas dinner without having first built up an appetite!
Yes, I am crazy and addicted and pathetic. But goddamit I’m a runner. And i can guarantee that Christmas Day is a much more enjoyable affair for all involved if I can sneak in a run at some point.
This year, I awoke to wish dad Merry Christmas before he headed off to work as a nurse at 5am. Then I quietly pulled on my running shoes and headed out into the sunny morning. One of the loveliest parts of my day was running through streets of decorated houses and exchanging a brief “Merry Christmas” with the occasional early morning exerciser. Every now and then, I would hear the first sounds of households waking and kids excitedly rushing to find their presents. I returned home and headed straight for the Christmas tree to open gifts with mum!
With Christmas done and dusted, the New Year and all its resolutions was fast approaching! What do I want to achieve this year? How do I want to change? Exactly one year ago I was sitting in the sun up at Falls Creek with an injured hip pondering the very same thing. 2014 is my last year of university study and a hectic placement timetable will see me moving from Newcastle to Grafton to Sydney and back again. It will challenge my mental strength to train solo and maintain a running routine throughout changing schedules. It will be my last chance to live up the student life but also the last time I live off a student budget! If I can make it to the end with some solid months of training and a few events completed I will be satisfied. Needless to say, my running shoes will be one of the first items chucked in my bag when I head away.
Bring on the new year of running, racing and Runner’s Tribe!
