One step at a time: My journey to marathon number 2 (Part 3)

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

One of my favourite quotes from one of my all time favourite movies and one of the things I adore about running. It gives me time to take notice of things, things that I would normally rush straight by in everyday life. My life, like most other people is very, very hectic and again like most people, I rarely have time to notice the simple things – the little bits of nature that surround us, yet when I am running they are all I see. The perfect yellow, orange and pink sunrises and sunsets. The little drops of rain on a spider’s web. The sun shining down through the tall branches of an Australian gum tree. The steam coming off a puddle of water on a cold Winter morning. The many varied and intricate patterns that the clouds can make across the sky. There is so much wonder in nature. Unbelievably perfect wonder.

SKINS Recruits on an adventure!

This week during a training run I said to my friend and fellow SKINS Recruit Sarah “Would you like to go on an adventure?” You see, there’s a place close by to where we live that we’ve never run before and to me it was so exciting! When she replied “Yes” we set off in the opposite direction to the way we usually run and what we discovered was such a beautiful find – a great track alongside the river, winding in and out of bush, rainforest almost, trails and even a lake. We saw fishermen, a park for the kids and just a place with so much potential. It was another of those moments in running where I was amazed by the wonders of nature – the places around me that I’ve never taken the time to see before. The places that I would never have discovered had it not been for running.

River perfection

The hidden forest

So on this journey to my second marathon, I’ve decided it is going to be all about the wonder. It is no longer about the times I’m running, or how fast I can be. It is not about being better than myself or anyone else. It is about taking the time to really see everything. Taking the time to really enjoy and admire how things are. Things that I would not usually have taken the time to see. Things that we all tend to pass by in our daily lives. Things that are staring right at us, yet we take no notice of.

Now is the time. Now is the time to stop and look around before I miss it.