My name is Julia Chi…
I have been running all of my life – it feels I was born to run.
In the running step I experienced freedom and my true expression.
I came to see that I needed to ‘get out of the way of myself’ and let my energy flow through the running step; allow it to express itself in the dance and the motion of running.
I have lived from a belief that all that is required is that I know myself, and that I am true to myself, and seek to become the master of my body and my mind… That from this place I allow my true nature to shine and reflect in my creative endeavours and within my relationships.
An ongoing journey…!
I knew from when I was young that all I needed to do was to ‘run free’. To let the running take me where it wanted to. To stay in the step. To be in the moment and so to experience running as a meditation on the move.
I ran for England and GB for some years. My first international was in 1979, a three mile cross country race; and I continued to run at international level until 1993. Two of my best results were first place in the Dublin City Marathon in 1985 and 7th place woman, 3rd British woman in the 1986 London Marathon in a time of 2.36.31, which gained me selection for the Commonwealth Games.
ByJulia Chi
The day dawned sparkly bright… I let myself out of the french windows onto the long lawn in front of Buxted Park hotel…A spectacular September morn; the dew was soft sharp cold on my feet… I padded round the back of the building, trotted slowly up the drive and into the country lanes, dappled in strobe…
ByJulia Chi
I am sitting in the crystal bar at Buxted park, it is cozy warm here… Outside the rain is pouring down; it has a winter feel to it… And yet this morning the day dawned fresh and clear, sunny bright over a sparkling sea. The tide coming in slowly of the wet black seaweed stones….
ByJulia Chi
We are on the road again… We dropped our key in with our landlady and chatted awhile with her and her husband before we left… ‘You are the talk of the town in your bare feet’ they laughed… I forget that communities are small, and they talk, and that a woman running about in the…
ByJulia Chi
I enjoy writing in coffee shops; it was always my dream in the past to spend my time in cafes writing all day. In fact it was a dream I live out a lot… Writing anonymously with folk around me. Anadi likes to work in silence, I believe the work of a computer programmer needs…
ByJulia Chi
The day was grey and a little chilly, rain hanging in the air… I didn’t feel much like leaving the cosiness of our cottage, but I remembered the techniques of going running ‘whatever whenever’, that I had adopted over years of living in the UK… Just step out of the door… Step over any resistance,…
ByJulia Chi
I have just eaten the most delightful delicious scrumptious piece of pecan and orange polenta cake, accompanied by a flat white made with organic coffee… I have also had a wonderful conversation with Louise, who brought me my cake and coffee… She is a counsellor and a photographer, and I loved sitting enjoying the deliciousness…
ByJulia Chi
What a brilliant day, rich with experience and fun, sisterhood and connection… I turned up at the gym to run, because it was raining again outside…! Anadi commented earlier today that we have become ‘sensitised’ again to English weather ? When we lived here we were more like other English people, and very accepting of…
ByJulia Chi
Today was a more clement outing, the sun shone and the wind had abated… I chose to run around the edge of a football field I had discovered yesterday, smooth green springy grass… Anadi came with me and we ran together the mile down the road to the field… A sign on the edge of…
ByJulia Chi
As I ran up the hill, with wet leafy trees heavily drooping over onto the wet shiny, bumpy, uneven Dorset lane – I reflected on my life and how all I have ever really wanted to do is go running… I love it, quite simply love it… I always have – and I love it…
ByJulia Chi
And now we are in Dorset… It is like magic that we travel on the wings of time, which swirls around without a beginning nor end… One minute we are in Morocco; the next in London – and now with a silent whoosh of energy it seems that we have been propelled to a land…
ByJulia Chi
Here is my story of being barefoot for a year, in a page… I was walking along Famara beach in Lanzarote with my husband Anadi… I love that beach. It is sandy and expansive, with a backdrop of volcanic cliffs, magical in their colour and stature. The beach is 5k long when the tide is…
ByJulia Chi
I am aware that many of you know my story, but as I approach 3 years to the day – September 9th – since I shed my shoes, I thought I would tell the story again of… How it all began … In August 2016 – I was still a shod runner; but I was…
