Running slowly became my place of solace and refuge in a world full of clutter and distraction, but if you told me that I would eventually become a runner during my youth, I would have given you a pleasant smile and walked away.
I started running as a way to help my staff get healthy and stay fit. With absenteeism and waistlines increasing we looked for ways to reverse what appeared to be a troubling trend – myself included. Our wellness journey started with various guest speakers who spoke to us about the importance of diet and exercise. A reoccurring theme was that it was never too late to start. One of our employees suggested that we do a road race and so we signed up for Sagicor’s SIGMA 5k. Everyone was excited but probably for the wrong reasons. Walk/run 5k, have breakfast and socialize with your coworkers – with emphasis on the breakfast. No one expected that we would be in so much pain the following morning though most of us walked. We signed up for a few more races and endured the Monday morning discomfort as a badge of honour. It didn’t dawn on us that we needed to practice between races. Our bodies were reacting to the occasional effort but we didn’t give ourselves a chance to become familiar with the exercise or the distance.
I joined Pacers Running Club on the invitation of a friend, and started walking a couple miles with them on a Saturday morning. Waking up so early to do a couple of miles was difficult, I looked at these runners ahead of me and thought they were just a tad crazy. We continued to sign up for 5k’s at the office but it wasn’t until one afternoon, when I overheard two coworkers speaking in the lunchroom, that I realized my Saturday morning craziness was paying off. “How did you let Mrs. Peart beat you?” he asked. “You know she’s old?” was the follow-up. I’m not sure I’d ever been happier to be called old.
My Saturday morning 5k walks had eventually turned into 5k runs and over time I managed to add a mile or two with the encouragement and company of the other runners. I can remember my first full 10 mile run – no walking, no rest breaks other than for hydration. Henry, the club’s president at the time drove the route handing out water where necessary and an Asian gentleman ran beside me the entire way – I had no idea who he was but he promptly disappeared after which led me to believe he was a figment of my imagination. That’s the power of the group though – unlike tennis or football, running can be done by yourself. You certainly don’t need a team or a partner to put one foot in front of the other but the group genuinely cares about each other. It wants to see you succeed and are proud of your accomplishments as if it were their own. Some of my proudest moments as a runner, the memories that help motivate me though difficult situations in regular life, were the accomplishment of others as we ran together on these roads. The success gained from setting goals and achieving them on the road spills over into regular life, and somehow makes you feel that you can accomplish anything.
There was a time when I would never have considered running. It seemed intimidating, more suited for a particular type of person – tall, lean and athletic, but I can assure you, running is for everyone. Get your doctor’s approval and then come out one Saturday morning. We’ll dawn our masks and walk beside you. One step at a time.