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
Another plane blog… I am flying off to Lanzarote with Anadi for Christmas… Eighteen days in the UK has passed in a blink of an eye, and yet landing at Gatwick two and a half weeks ago, feels now like it might have been five years ago. And when I met up with my godbrother…
ByJulia Chi
I finished my run today by racing up the steps to the Penon del Santo, the largest and tallest of three rocks that divide the two main beaches here in Almuñécar… The stone that has been there for years and years and years… The rock remains and stands here now, whatever wars and fights the…
ByJulia Chi
Last night I awoke at 3.33am, thirsty for a glass of water… I enjoy seeing numbers all lined up; it feels part of life’s magic and a little like the wondrous intricate patterns of a crop circle; unexplained synchronicity within friendship meetings, happenings, occurrences that amaze us – and symmetry, mirrors, things ‘happening at the…
ByJulia Chi
The cherries are here again… shiny pink, clusters of new life. They are hanging happily from the trees in the garden of Teide restaurant where Anadi and I have shared many cafe con leche’s since we started visiting Spain three years ago. Last summer, these beautiful trees became well acquainted with my Zen runners; we…
ByJulia Chi
I love stretching on the beach… It has become a daily practise and my body is opening up again. In fact the stretches that are deeper, or harder for me to do, are accessing something previously inaccessible inside… I can feel this space I am living in currently, without much interaction or conversation, is lending…
ByJulia Chi
A man is sitting at my table with me… He is happily writing postcards and drinking a fanta limon. He arrived, pulled a chair over and said something about not wanting to take up too many tables… There was not another table in use at the time. But we have settled in together now. I…
ByJulia Chi
We got up early… For Spain! At 8am it felt like day was just dawning… A few people wandering, the man with his dog who sits on the promenade collecting euros was already in his place… The sun shone on the limpid blue sea; sparkling, dancing bright… Paving stones outside the restaurants wet washed from…
ByJulia Chi
Yesterday morning I left Anadi working and I ran to the track; I then proceeded to run around it twelve times… I stretched out and ran faster for 200m and then slower for 100 meters, then faster again, round and around I ran in this fashion…. I loved it. The sun shone and the track…
ByJulia 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…
ByJulia Chi
It seems when I am in Spain, that part of my integration and learning, is to navigate a health clinic of some kind…! At Christmas Bronchitis lead me to the doctor, and now my ‘writing injury’, although much improved has still been causing me pain in the night, and my wrist is still a little…
ByJulia Chi
I ran for 65 minutes this morning; some of it with Anadi and then I ran on for a bit before turning back to meet up with him on the beach and go for the swim I didn’t go for last night ? I have no idea how far I am running at the moment…
ByJulia Chi
I had fun today in my (barefoot) Spanish lesson, Maricarmen, my teacher, is very embracing of my ‘differences’, and welcomes my, now very brown, bare feet into her classroom… I love the mountain goats here, and she laughingly told me that in Spain they have an expression for an eccentric person ‘Ella es como una…
