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
I am having another day of solitude, I have them day after day now… It is like a whole new chapter of a book…. Or a new part of some sort of trilogy, or a new scene in a great long never ending book… Our lives; a never ending book, split up into pages and…
ByJulia Chi
It is 5pm in Spain and I am sitting outside on a terrace, enjoying a café con leche… I have been sharing my office space today with another Inglés; he has seemed to be very industrious on his computer, whilst drinking cervezas and smoking cigarettes… He appears relaxed; and he looks quite bohemian… He reminds…
ByJulia Chi
Anadi and I have just returned from a liquid lunch! We set off on an outing to visit the Castle… But after walking up the steep winding hill to the very top, we found we had arrived fifteen minutes after it had closed… Sundays in Spain are very ‘Sunday-ish’ indeed…Not much is open except for…
ByJulia Chi
The plan this morning was to run some intervals on the track… Anadi came with me – he was going to stretch while I ran – but we arrived to the buzz and activity of ‘something going on’… Young boys and girls were collecting race numbers, and an exciting and anticipatory energy was all around… I…
ByJulia Chi
My writing desk on the balcony looks down on a little square by the sea in Almuñecar, it is more lively than when we were last here in February; colourful stalls starting to appear… Joyous, vibrant, strips of cloth, skirts, pantalones, a mass, a tumble of possibility. I am happy at the moment to be…
ByJulia Chi
Yesterday I read about Joan Benoit Samuelson who turned sixty in May aiming for a sub three hour marathon… The current world record for the 60-64 age group is 3:01:30 which was run by New Zealand’s Bernie Portenski in 2010… Joan previously held the world record in the marathon, when she ran 2:22:43 for the…
ByJulia Chi
We can all relate to our body hurting, not moving well, stopping us in our tracks… This vehicle we travel in is incredibly durable and supports us through so much, but it is also vulnerable and is affected by everything that occurs in our lives. It registers our every thought, our every emotion, our every…
ByJulia Chi
I have just returned from my Spanish lesson… A whole two hours speaking in Spanish with Maricarmen! The clock struck 1pm signalling the end of our time… She then shared with me that she had seen a film about the racing driver Niki Lauda last night, and that it had made her think of me……
ByJulia Chi
Today we went on an outing to the Majorelle Gardens; our usual way of ‘being a tourist’ is to run through or past the places of history… But today we joined the queue, which happened to be a rather a lovely place to stand… It was a hot hot day in Marrakech, and fine showers…
ByJulia Chi
Freedom is within us, it can be nowhere else. Looking for it outside is a fruitless and disappointing search. In the end, freedom is a process of letting go. It really is as simple as that… To write down, anyway! It clearly isn’t that simple to experience, or we would all be living from our…
ByJulia Chi
I am sitting in the middle of Riad Saba, with the gentle sound of flowing water from the fountain in front of me, the stone floor cool under my bare feet. Riad means garden and these beautiful buildings are built with trees and plants in a central courtyard and feature a fountain or swimming pool… The windows only…
ByJulia Chi
Day four of my new life and I have got worse at Spanish… I am writing this with a laughing tone, but it is still what it feels like….! With more time to learn the language, I find the box I have opened has no bottom… It is therefore fortunate to have discovered over the…
