Nearly lunch time. It’s Monday, the day after my 10km race, and I’m more than usually famished and wondering if the race has something to do with that. No doubt the race has
everything to do with my screaming quads, which make it difficult to get out of my chair, let alone contemplate the stairs. It’ll be the elevator today, I think.
I was rummaging around in my backpack for a letter I knew I’d put there and needed to mail – and there it was, encrusted with undecipherable stains that are undoubtedly a broad mix of rain and my inadequately wrapped lunch from a day last week when I was caught in a storm on the way to work. But hello, what’s this? A folded piece of A4 paper – something I’ve no doubt printed to read on the train home falls out of my pack and triggers a little bell in the brain. Ah, yes, of course: “Notes from the ledge”, one of my favourite pieces of El Cuckoo writing from April 2008 where he’s contemplating a return to the running life from the dangerously high “desolate attic of fulfilment”.
I sufficiently identify with his torment, and love to bits (and am not just a little bit jealous of) his ability to put it into such elegant prose. He may be mystified as to why his writing inspires people like me to run all the more, but the truth is his writing does get me out onto the streets, entering races and generally enjoying all the benefits this running life gives. He is not so much a runner who writes, but a gifted writer who runs and as I love both running and literature, for me it is a very happy combination.
More than that however, all the regular RC contributors inspire with their encouragement and their own tales of success (or otherwise) in their running lives. I have often considered joining a “real” running club, but have never found one that really appeals to me. RC on the other hand, suits me fine. As EC said, and it’s worth repeating...
“We’re not a big gang, but we write, we fight, we run – sometimes together, sometimes apart. I’ve met so many inspirational people here. Perhaps that’s the single best thing to emerge from all this: the proof that people (well, runners anyway) are essentially good and interesting, and that the adventures of other people can so easily become our own, if only we are prepared to let them.”
As others have noted, some of us have been venturing into Facebook and Twitter in recent years and this has perhaps eaten into our energies for RC. I see things like Twitter as the “chocolate biscuits” of social interaction – immediately appealing and momentarily satisfying, they are perhaps not exactly a wholesome diet. Trolling through old pages of RC musings I am staggered again and again by how much wisdom and inspiration I find there. I just don’t get the same thing however from Facebook pokes or Twitter’s retweets and Friday Follows.
I am perhaps more guilty than most for my inconsistency in posting to RC forums. This is almost certainly in direct proportion to my inconsistency in running. Running daily is now helping overcome that to a certain extent, but what always draws me back to the running fold, and I mean always, are the folks here at RC. This is home, you are my tribe and you keep me running.
And I have more reason than usual to be optimistic about my running future just at the moment. The messiness of the last few years of MLCM’s life has largely been settled and I now have a permanent home, a reasonable routine (or at least as close as I can get to a routine) not crippled by too frequent interstate travelling or major projects. My kids have all grown up and lead independent lives and I can now focus on my running to a degree I’ve not been able before. With that I’ve returned to (nearly) daily running and I really think this is helping. Being in reasonable health and not suffering the litany of injuries I used to get has made a huge difference, too. I’m genuinely excited about the rest of the year and beyond and hope a few of you might share this with me.
But first I need to let my quads recover. I promise I won’t be too long...
April Cools
