Blaugust the 6th, featuring Running and also an Incident

Hello readers. Today you get a mess of a personal post because today stripped me a bit bare and that’s all I have for you.

I’d been out for a run with my dog Rocco, and I was just about home. Someone was sitting in their car in a driveway, pulled right out across the footpath so one would have to go out into the road to get around them. As the man was playing on his cellphone, I figured he was texting someone or checking maps. It was not long after 5pm, and quite busy, so I waited for a lull in the traffic and went around him.

When I was directly behind the car it started pulling back into the road. I put my hand out against the car but it kept coming. I screamed. I danced awkwardly away, out further into the centre of the road, as he kept backing out. Thankfully the other side of the road was slowed to a crawl so I didn’t rush out in front of anyone to avoid him. Someone was kind enough to honk their horn on my behalf, and he still didn’t stop. I have to say I genuinely felt as though he was trying to run me over.

So that is why I am out of sorts tonight. I was rattled today and I don’t want to do anything hard. Instead I am going to show you my dog and then talk briefly about running. Here he is:

I think running gets a bad rap. Yes, when you start it it is difficult and afterwards you feel sick and want to die. But if you build up your strength slowly, you see yourself improve over time, and that is incredibly satisfying. Yes, you may say, I am incompetent in all areas of my life. I can barely cook beyond cheese on toast, I can’t tell my clean-clothes pile from my dirty-clothes pile, and I’m not sure what day of the week it is, but I can run.

And running is such a quick way to get places! In comparison to walking, I mean. And it’s fun, when you’re better at it. Running along an easy road – not up a hill, obviously – with the wind in your face and a great song and you hit your stride and you feel like you could do this forever.

It also helps if you have a good story to keep you company. I play Zombies, Run!, sort of like a game-meets-audiobook wherein yourself, Runner Five, and a band of plucky survivors stave off the zombie horde, solve mysteries, and save lives. I warn you that you may find yourself having a bit of a cry whilst out for a run. At any rate, I have to keep heading out, if only to make sure Runner 4 stays alive. And Jack and Eugene. Those sweet kids.