a small break

I woke up at 4am to go down to Pretty Beach.

The idea was that I’d run south to Pebbly Beach then come back over Durras Mountain.

The day was forecast to be a scorcher, hence why I’d gotten up so early.

I left Michael and the boys asleep in bed and reversed the car as quietly as I could out of the driveway.

The cold sea air grabbed my nostrils, the stars looked like spooky little eyes staring at me.

I find it hard writing about times I go running, because essentially that’s all it is. I’m just running, so there’s not that much to talk about, y’know?

Like probably the most exciting runs I’ve had were when I lived in Kununurra (before the fire).

One night I ran near a massive python, and another time I got chased home by a pack of dingos.

Oh, and there was that time when I was pregnant and running in Namibia and a group of wild dogs tailed me home. That was exciting/terrifying.

And look, on this particular day, I was at a stunning location with fresh sea breeze and a glorious sunrise unfurling before me. Visually, this run was exceptional.

Soft sand trails. Dusky grey kangaroos gently sloping off into the distance. The smell of wet earth and salt and sand all at once. Rockpools so clear you felt like you could drink out of them. A gentle easterly blowing the ocean smooth, and  dolphins herding fish just out of reach.

But it was still just me plodding away, one foot after another.

I think thats what I like about running though. There’s a sense of… flow? Predictability?

You know it will be hard and you know there’ll be points where you hate it, and you know there’ll be points where you love it and sometimes an hour feels like a minute and sometimes a minute feels like an hour and you know that eventually you’ll finish your run and you’ll experience that strange mixture of euphoric and elated and exhausted.

It’s a space of expunged time, with no small people requests or large husband shaped requests or no emails or Instagram or web links or hyperlinks or logmeintothiswebsite requests.

Your thoughts are free, unbound by the normal duties and distractions of everyday life.

If you choose to, you can think about the crush you had in Year Four, or you can think about your running technique or you can think about what you’ll eat when you get home, or you can think about the larger problems in life.

If I’m annoyed /stressed /irritated /a combination of the above, I know the best remedy for me is not to sit down on the couch with my phone, but to run and clear my head.

Of course I know that nothing about my life will have changed on my return. There’ll still be clothes to fold, dishes in the sink, meals to make and emails to respond to.

But no matter how hard I try, that stuff has never gone away – the moment a load of laundry is done and dried and put away, another load piles up. The moment a meal is made, there are more dishes to wash and put away and pack up and clean. The moment the toys are unpacked around the child is the same moment the child decides to throw them in the pool.

These types of mundane things (that are essential to our everyday lives – for we must eat and drink and keep our children’s clothes relatively clean) seem to sit there in a perpetual state of continuity.

But for me, taking ownership over MY day, claiming a small portion of it as mine to do with as I will, and go for a run – it calms me. Energises me. Focuses me.

It’s why I love sharing running with the other women inside Run with Turia. I love seeing women unfurl the magic in a little “me time”.

If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, can I invite you to join the waitlist?

The next round begins in early July.

And in the meantime, I’m sending you a reprieve from the mundane.
In whatever form that takes for you, enjoy it.

You deserve it.

With much love,
Turia x