Who Runs Beside You
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Thursday morning. Solo, easy pace, the usual loop. Down Glen Osmond Road, across South Terrace, up Anzac Highway and back across South Terrace again.
Easy enough that there’s nothing to push against. No splits to chase. Just breath, footsteps and the park lands along South Terrace.
Runs like this become a kind of forced meditation. The body settles and the mind finally has room.
Somewhere on the loop, my thoughts land on Izzi Batt-Doyle and Riley Cocks at RunAsOne. Four years ago, when I first reached out, they gave me what I needed to get started. I’ve always appreciated their support since, especially with so many other plates spinning in their own lives.
Four days earlier in Chicago, Izzi ran 2:20:38 and set a new Australian women’s marathon record.
The thought that stays with me isn’t the time. It’s who’s behind my own running.
Coffee at Mister Pigeon to finish.
Later that day I watch her race recap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XgrHgbCbRI
The first thing I notice is how steady it is. Each 10km at almost the same effort, her second half faster than her first. She barely looks at her watch and runs on feel. It’s built on years of quiet work most people never see.
What stays with me is how she talks about it. Riley paces her the whole way. At the finish she hugs him, then her mum, who flew over from Australia, then the team who backed her. She calls herself a custodian of the record, one of a line of women who came before her and the ones still to come.
Her goals and mine are miles apart. The foundations aren’t. Show up. Stack the small days. Notice the people who make it possible.
That’s what I value most about RunAsOne. Professional athletes and people like me in the same group. Different goals, same ambition, and everyone made to feel welcome.
Running looks like an individual sport. Hardly anyone runs alone. Some people run right beside us. Others lift us from further back, often without knowing it.
Who is quietly lifting your running, and do they know it?
P.S. Running for something bigger than yourself is close to the heart of the Community chapter in Habits for a 1% Better Life.
Each week I donate a hard copy to a local street library, because a good book should keep moving. This week's run puts another one out into the world.
