This time last week I was recovering from the Asics Target 26.2 Bootcamp. Fairly randomly, it was held at the University of Birmingham (my regular workplace) but the day couldn’t have been further from my day job! For a running nerd like me it was a day of pure indulgence. OK, so it included a pretty nippy and tiring 5k timed run (which if I’m honest I still enjoyed) but the whole day was totally fab. I met some amazing people (a good number of whom have made it through to the final – good luck Jen, Emma C and Nicole – and some fab people who must have just missed the cut), obtained some brilliant advice, felt I represented my running well and was genuinely excited to be enveloped into a community that thinks and feels the same way that I do about running. Running nerds united!! 🙂
It just felt damn good and I was on a high for the whole weekend afterwards. If I hadn’t got through to the final, I would have left feeling privileged to have had the chance to participate in the day and walked away with my head held high (and my nice new Asics rucksack on my back). However, I was fortunate enough to be chosen and now I want this. Bad!
Not just because of the opportunity that it represents – the training advice, supportive cohort, racing package etc but mainly because when I am immersed in running, I genuinely forget about everything else. Even though essentially Running School was ‘at work’, my ‘to do’ list didn’t cross my mind once! Anyone that knows me will appreciate that this is quite a feat; ‘switching off’ is not something I do easily. Even on a lovely day with N last week, although I felt 100% happy to be there, I still found my Blackberry whispering to me from my bag. Sad I know. Maybe it is because I am in the zone or maybe it is because I don’t have pockets big enough for my BB, but when I am running I totally relax!
In my world, running informs life and life informs running. It is teaching me to be still, in the moment, and it makes me a better person to be around. Please vote for me so that I can embrace this new challenge and work on bringing lessons from ‘Running School’ into our home, the workplace etc.
Wow, that got a little deeper than I expected! So back to reality, just off to scoff a lovely curry with some good friends – fueling myself up for a nice long early morning run with the Cocks Moors Woods Ladies!
Happy Weekend! 🙂
ladeyjadey 
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