My mind before a run and after a run

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Encouragement

We were driving along, heading for a birthday party when we spotted a lone female runner. She was ploughing along, looking quite desperate and doing a very good impression of a snail taking an afternoon walk.

'Look!' my husband said encouragingly, 'she runs even slower than you do!'

A Quicky

Sometimes a quicky is all I can find the time for. Like today, when I got home from the birthday party of my little niece. Just a thirty minutes run. Quick but quite satisfying.

So now I'm lying on the couch feeling quite pleased with myself. My limbs have that pleasant tired feeling of a run well done, and I feel all virtuous.

Thanks to my quicky.

Running as grief therapy

I'm a great believer in the therapeutic benefits of running. Sure, it doesn't make your troubles go away, but inevitably you feel better after a run. It's almost impossible not to.

How running helped Karin cope with the death of her husband

So I just loved Karin Kuipers description of how running helped her cope with the loss of her husband Karl. Karin and their three small children lost him to cancer. She wrote a book about the first 1001 days without him and titled it: 'You can always call me'

Running helps

'There are not many things I do these days that really bring me pleasure, but running is one of them. No matter how miserable I feel after an hour of running around the heath I feel and look a lot better.

I used to run one or two times a week, but when Karl got sick I started to run more and more frequently. To keep the panic at bay, to worry, to relax, to stay healthy, to produce endorphins.

I always run in the same circle of ten kilometers, in an hour. Never faster, because my only goal is to produce endorphins, and I manage that quite well with a pace of ten kilometers an hour.

No one knows how much I need my ten kilometers to keep the longing for alchohol at arms lenght. No one knows that without my ten kilometers I have even less patience with the children. That without them I can't fall asleep and will become totally stressed out. That without my run I'll start worrying about money and become depressed. No one know that those last ten minutes on the heath are the happiest minutes of my day. The only happy minutes of my day.

Others don't know about the endorphins that course through my veins for hours afterwards, as an antidote to all the stresshormones and fear for the future. If they knew, I'm sure I would have daily childcare to run my 'circle'.

It's a pity I can't explain it to them.'


But Karin, you just did.

And I think more people would understand than you think.

I wanna live without fear

Running represents to me how I want to live my life: with joy and abandonment and without fear for where the road will take me!

And yes I knów this is difficult, and sometimes even impossible. Perhaps that's why I love the song 'I wanna live without fear' so much. It's about wanting things that absolutely make no sense, but wanting them anyway. Just because!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I wanna live without fear

Last night, I couldn't sleep
I tossed and turned,
and counted thousands of sheep
And they just kept on standing there,
and they looked at me, and I yelled:
'Get out of my way already.'

I wanna live without fear,
I want money without saving
I wanna drink without a hangover
I want a watch without later
I wanna dance without tired
I want rain without a coat
I want smoking without cancer
I want a salto without a net
I wanna know everything without books
I wanna find everything without a second look,
I wanna sleep without a bed

You said to me: 'You're out of your mind,
you just don't get a free ride to the White House!
No pain, no gain!'
And I looked at you,
and I wanted to hit you,
'cause you were so annoyingly right.

But I want love without an end
I wanna make love without worries
I wanna continue without stopping
I wanna come in without knocking
And a body without decay
I wanna pig out without fat
I want cows without Jacob Creutzfeld
I want a child without labor,
I wanna travel without a goal
I wanna sail without a harbor
I want a moat without digging,
I wanna fish without a catch
I want death without dying
I wanna live, I wanna live
I wanna live without fear.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

The best gym in the world

I'm a member of the best gym in the world! It's never dull, and they're constantly changing the look and feel of it. Right now, for example, they're going for this wintry theme with everthing covered with what looks like spun sugar, and the flooring is covered in white.

And they are absolutely magical with the lighting. Sometimes it's bright and clear and the colors just pop out at you. Other times it's a bit dark and everything looks kind of muted.

Every time I go to this gym it's a surprise what it will be like.

I just love running in the world.

Running and mothering through the seasons

Seasons come, and seasons go, but being a mom and a runner never stops.

Copyright picture: Corrie Kuipers

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Running in snow

Everything surrounding me is white. Blindingly so, because the sun is shining brightly and reflects the white snow. My daily walks to school with the children have changed into sled rides. Like happy little Rudolphs the children run, taking turns to pull the sled.

I watch them with pleasure and wonder. There it is again: running for the fun of it. Running, just because it's enjoyable.

I can't remember the last time I saw a regular grown up, dressed in his day to day clothes suddenly break into a run. As adults we make an informed decision to run, and dress ourselves accordingly.

So I've decided that the next time I go for a walk, I'm suddenly going to break into a run and run like a child. Just to feel what it's like again.

When was the last time you broke into a run? And I don't mean the kind where you try to catch a bus or go to the sales!

Confession is good for the soul

Forgive me Father for I have sinned.

It has been six days since my last run, and yesterday evening I ate a whole bag of potatoe chips.
Now I feel all sluggish and fat.
For this I am truly sorry.

What did you say, Father?
My sins are my punishment?

Delusions of the mind

I am pleased to report they have put Westendorp back! I found out when I ran the eight kilometer distance there in fiftyfive minutes, whereas the last time it took me around seventy minutes!

I ran ten minutes, followed by one minute of stretching and walking and repeated this five times.

While I drank my coffee I pondered the possibility that they didn't put Westendorp back, but that I have gotten faster! But then I laughed at my own silliness. Getting faster, haha!

No, they've definitely put Westendorp back.