If you nodded you head in agreement then you know the pleasure that running can bring. The challenge of setting yourself little goals and beating them is part of the pleasure, but the reflection time and solitude that running offers, not to mention the health benefits and the sense of achievement are the real things that keep you coming back to it. Anybody can run. Sure, if you are used to physical inactivity you may not be able to run far or quickly but you can run. You also don’t need any equipment past a decent pair of shoes.

I was converted from a person totally bewildered by the apparent urge some people had to create discomfort for themselves by exercise to a runner by diabetes. While my inactive lifestyle had nothing to do with my having diabetes (it is type 1) keeping a healthy body weight and exercise are likely to keep me alive, my legs intact and my eyes working for much longer. So I set out on the path to better fitness.

I guess running made sense since I am too physically uncoordinated to be a able to play most sports. So I started walking and trying to run a bit. Naturally at first I could barely put together 200 meters of running, but by running further between walking spells I made progress. Then I discovered that controlling my breathing could keep me running for longer. One day something clicked and I felt like I could run for ever.

This all happened around 2000/2001. I got my fitness up to the point where I felt I could tackle the Activ Foundation City to Surf in Perth in 2001. I completely amazed myself by not only surviving the 12 km run but getting a time of about 1 hour and 6 minutes. After that I completed the Margaret River Fun Run and ran the 10 km in 48 minutes.

Since then my relationship with running has been an on again, off again affair. There was a spell in about 2004/05 where I did little exercise and I sort of picked it up again and put it down again until 2007/08 where I started to run a bit more regularly.

I ran in the 2008 City to Surf today and I can say that I am back in love with running. I managed it in 1 hour and 8 minutes. Amazingly since what I consider my fittest period 7 years ago I have lost only 2 minutes.

Freezing in my singlet and shorts at the start line this morning I fully realised that I hadn’t trained enough. The field of runners is divided into sections based on speed. A, B, C, D and Walkers. I started in C meaning that I believed I could run 12 km in less that 70 minutes. Looking around me nobody had the runner “look” although quite a few people, women particularly, seemed to have all the gear.

After what felt like an eternity the countdown began for the start. 10, 9, 8 … 2, 1 then nothing. See there were 37,000 people standing there and about 5,000 of them were in front of me. So we shuffled toward the start line then, like a barrel reaching the edge of the waterfall, we passed the point of no return and we were off.

The first 15 minutes were a head long rush through the teaming masses. Slow runners, walkers (who should have been way behind us) and shrubs blocked the path at every turn and so it was necessary to thread through while controlling speed. Then the first big hill where adrenaline shrank it to a molehill. Down through Subiaco and Jolimont all the way slipping past people and trying to maintain a pace where as few as possible people crept passed me.

Through Perry Lakes, which felt like torture, and then up and down the undulations of Oceanic Drive. At the 9 km mark I started to die on a hill but, either by planning or chance, “Eye of the Tiger” erupted in clichéd, 80s brilliance from my earbuds. I started to make ground and pass the people who had passed me in my lassitude.

Down the final hill I felt like I was flying as my legs responded to gravity and the sight of the West Coast Highway and the finish. Entering the oval I imagined the finish only 200 meters away and began to sprint. Only to find it was more like 400 meters and so crossed the finish line in a pant.

Who did I beat today? Only the target I set myself and that is all that matters. I am back in love with running and I am looking for my next challenge. I hear there will be a marathon next year…