To Run

By Chelsea Adams

Find out more about Chelsea here!

Find something that gives you that feeling of freedom. This last month, for me it's been running. I am not usually a person who enjoys running and at the start I was running for 1 min then walking for 30 seconds, only completing 3 rounds before trudging home a little defeated. But I stuck it out and surprisingly I think I have become hooked. Hooked on the adrenaline, the wind on my face and the sweat afterwards. Excited to collate a playlist that will instil the right level of motivation and a mind that obsesses over most things but miraculously clears itself of anything and everything as soon as my feet hit the pavement. Yeah, I may only be running 1-3km at a time, but after a long day back at work in hospitality, running seems to give me that release I need to put what happened in the day behind me. So, find something that works for you. With everyone's routine returning to a different level of 'normal' in the coming weeks, acknowledge that things sometimes have to change, and that is ok. With all this anticipation and change occurring here is a short poem.

-To Run-
That stride matching my breath
That clearing of stress
That push to reach the final stretch.
 
All to meditate while moving
In forward motion
Leaving looming thoughts
Lonesome.
 
That pumping of life
Deep in my chest
Distance and time
No measurements
 
I run till I'm tired
I run till I sweat
I run to relieve that anxious person.
 
All thoughts aside
Just counting my breaths
With constant music
I increase my steps
 
I run the same route
For familiarities sake
To measure progress
To measure the time I take:
To do something for myself
To step out
To pound the pavement
And perspire
And shout!
 
Yell at the voice that sometimes says
You're not good enough
"You should quit while you're ahead."
 
With each metre covered
Shove that voice back in its locked box
Your running to keep it from
Controlling your thoughts.
 
I run till I'm tired
I run till I sweat
I run, and I'm a better person
Because of it!
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