A Future Marathon Runner...
As we approached Zamaca this afternoon,where we stayed a few weeks ago... I said to Anadi, 'Ooh, I am already looking forward to our 'welcome piton beer...'
We ran our fifteen mile run this morning, with the alternate six miles faster in the middle twelve... The humidity was higher than usual and we ran faster again than last week; we have hydrated as we ran and since we have finished 'refuelled at the marina and have been drinking a lot of fluids... A welcome piton felt just what we needed after the gallons of water..!
Ellen our hostess greeted us with great warmth, she was sitting chatting with her cousin Joe who had just flown in from Atlanta Georgia...' I went to a race there once...' I said, 'a long time ago...'
It is not unusual for someone to mention a place in the world, and to find that I know it because I have run a race there...
It is how I have seen the world... Through either being invited to run a race in a far flung place on the planet, or planning to run a race someone; and more recently my PA Amy finding me races in distant lands, and up mountains and glaciers...!
The races beckon me, and so I have travelled...
I have always described myself as a 'traveller within', not really and truly needing to travel outside... And here I am now, a 'traveller', a nomad of no fixed abode...
My running journey has always been essentially an inner one, a place of self discovery though the running path...
I was born in West Africa and travelled back to the UK on board ship when I was four years old.. The first time I travelled on a plane to run abroad, was when I was nineteen years old, in February 1979.
I had been selected to run for England in a X country event in Manressa, Spain. This was when my inner journey through the running step first took me to a new land, a new adventure, to meet new people and eat different food and have new experiences...
The weather in the UK was bitter that year, and snowy, we 'had' to stay in Spain for three days because these were the only available flights. I have very happy memories of the dusty burnt orange land, the warmth of the mediterranean winter sun, the camaraderie of the other runners...
The day after the race, the nine English athletes went for a run together; three women and six guys.... After an hour or so, the two other women and four of the guys peeled off to go back to the hotel... I wanted to keep on running and so I did.
I was running with Grenville Tuck (or was it his twin brother Graham?!) and Nigel Gates, (who was unbeknownst to us both then to become my first husband) two good international runners, they 'jogged' along at six minute mile pace and I ran with them.... As we neared the end of the fifteen mile run, Nigel said to me, 'do you always run your long runs at this pace Julia?' 'yes', I lied... I was a young woman keen to run well and to impress!
'A future Marathon runner...' Grenville commented... Prophetic words...
This morning as we were on mile number four, Rodja, my PT here in St Lucia, drove past us on his way to an event he has organised for Easter Sunday in Pigeon Island.
We haven't trained together for the past two weeks, as I have been concentrating on my mileage, and practicing the exercises he taught me twice a day in the apartment...
And on the last day, there he was... The timing of us meeting was precise; Anadi and I could so easily have been on the beach or the scrubland part of the run; but he passed me running in full flight; running better, running with more balance and strength, the improvement since I arrived here immeasurable, and more than I could have hoped for...
At the end of the mile we were able to hug - I didn't get too close so as not to completely soak him in sweat...! And I was able to thank him again for his part in helping me to run free.
