Spoliers
Well, fuck. I just ran 10km.
Last year I would have told you I was allergic to exercise, now I’m an orange belt in karate and just ran the Bridge to Brisbane. It’s an identity shift of epic proportions.
This is actually one of my biggest challenges, because far from being a weekly thing, I have spent considerable time training for this one. I’ve endured shin splints (one of the worst pains of my life) and I’ve run in a storm. I’ve become psychologically connected to the same 90 minutes of music to the point where I’m not sure I can run to anything else. More to the point, when I hear those songs in other contexts, I can’t be sure I won’t just drop what I’m doing and run away. Sometimes, that’s all I want to do.
I actually enjoy it. Well, that’s a stretch. I enjoy the feeling you get afterwards, and the feeling you get after certain little wins along the way. A few weeks ago I was aiming to beat 5km without stopping. I was running through New Farm, exhausted, and had just about given up. I was only a block from home and I honestly didn’t think I could go any further. Then, the little voice in my ear said “Time: 35 minutes, Distance: 5.05 kilometers” – I literally whooped. If that feeling wasn’t good enough, the look on the face of the jogger passing me the other way made it totally worth it. Sort of stunned understanding. I’m pretty sure that was the day I then proceeded to run another 1.5km.
I apologise if this is boring you. It would have bored me last year. Lots of things have changed about me this year. I’m more spontaneous, I say ‘no’ less often. I make more time for myself, but I often spend that time doing more interesting things than incessantly scrolling my twitter feed. I mean I still do that too, but not always.
I’ve never been a competitive person, I mean, I’ll get shitty if I lose at monopoly just like anyone else, but I can drop it easily. But this year, mostly due to karate, I’ve been all about pushing myself to be better. Sometimes this means I get really angry in a karate class because I’m not as good as I think I should be. But then it means I try harder, run faster, or further, kick higher. It means I actually put in the hard yards and practice at home (unheard of… piano lessons, cello lessons, singing lessons, drama lessons, physical theatre classes, a short lived string of high-jump successes in primary school – they can all attest to that). Now I’m competitive with myself.
And yesterday, I beat my only Personal Best. I ran the Bridge to Brisbane in 1 hour and 12 minutes.
I have to say, I did get a little bit competitive… there was this guy dressed as Darth Maul a couple of meters ahead of me for the entire length of the course. He was wearing a plastic mask over his entire head, a full, black costume and knee length boots. Oh yeah, and a double light sabre. I was thoroughly impressed with him, but I kept thinking “if he can do this dressed like that, the least I can do is beat him over the line”. I just couldn’t catch him though. Every time I saw him, he was just that little bit too far ahead. And then, in the last 500m, I pulled something else out, and I practically sprinted. You bet your ass I beat Darth Maul.
Completing this challenge also draws to a close another one, raise money for charity. I raised $300 for the Red Cross – thanks so much to everyone who donated. I’m now going to add my own contribution and send it off to them, I do hope they buy themselves something special, a new dress, or those special earrings they’ve had their eye on for a while. Or you know, foreign aid and needles… one of them.
