Running, walking, swimming, cycling. I have long admired anyone who does any of those things with any regularity. There hasn’t been time in my tight schedule for anything that devoted to me for the 20 years that I have been juggling career and children. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel as my youngest turns 16 next week. And of great surprise to me, I have suddenly considered taking up running — or at least fast walking — as a thing to do. Here’s roughly why:
- I won’t get any younger. I am smack bang in the fourth cycle of my Chinese horoscope (each cycle has 12 years), which is the long way of saying that I am on the dark side of 40. And if 40 truly is the new 30, then I’d better start putting the final years of the decade to good use. Everyone I know seems to have taken up marathon running just for fun. There must be something to this if people seem so keen.
- It may be laboring the point but clearly I will soon be much older. So it’s now or never, although never used to look so much more attractive. I wanted to be a dancer when I was younger. Ballet was really my thing and, as I discovered on a recent holiday, I can still do the splits (a very long story). There will come a time — very soon I am told — when I won’t be able to get my legs to run along beneath me unless I start to train them to move that way now.
- The obvious health benefits. Without really trying I have managed to remain of good health to date. But I am aware that I could be pushing my luck if I think that my do-nothing attitude will carry me forever. Time to pull out my long-cherished fluoro green Choose Life t-shirt and join the healthy crowd.
- For some weird reason I am up for a new challenge. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that my children are increasingly less dependent on me. Apparently this happens to empty nesters who are notorious for searching for that second wind. Could running be my second wind?
- This could represent my mid-life crisis. I am told that everyone needs an excuse to shine the light back on their own needs. Maybe my need is to be able to walk swiftly beyond the corner without passing out. It would definitely make me feel better about my increased fondness for red wine.
- The most read story on Women’s Agenda on the weekend was about why you should take up running. I sense-checked this advice against a walk up the hill from my home to see the City2Surf runners fly past the 11km point in the race. As I stood there watching, takeaway latte in hand from the cafe right there on the corner, it took a good five minutes for me to catch my breath and another five to consider joining them next year. I think I have my answer.