Relax and Don’t Try Too Hard
Another sunshiny glorious day greeted us in Barbati…
I had chosen to take a day off running and so Anadi and I drove to Barbati beach, immersed ourselves in the Ionian balm, which truly does feel to cleanse and rejuvenate with its magic elixir, it’s life giving energy; and then to breakfast…
I made an unexpected choice of feta and melon salad which was totally delicious…
We sat together for awhile under the olive trees, a peaceful, sunny start to the day…
Now we are in our ‘office’ at Dwight and Angela’s bar in Ipsos… We come here each day to work, the beach is fifty metres away, the air is warm and life feels good…
Yesterday I booked myself a flight to San Francisco; Anadi cannot come (his past means he is not welcome there!) and so I am off on a mini solo adventure…
I have only booked for a couple of weeks, to reccy really… To see if it is somewhere I would like to spend more time…
We will see…
Running in the States has always appealed to me…
And yet I haven’t run a race there since 1987!
I ran the New York marathon back then… I was part of the British team that won second or third place… I can’t remember which now.
I ran a disappointing 2.41… Ha ha! Oh for the days when to run 2.41 would be disappointing!
But I was on great form and had seen in the weeks leading up to the marathon, that recording a 2.32 could be there for me… But by race day, I knew deep down I had ‘over cooked’ my training, I had lost some sparkle a couple of weeks before and felt flat and drained…
I still set off at the required 5.50 mile pace, but knew very early on that it wasn’t ‘there’… I had chased it away by over training.
If it’s not in there, it can’t emerge…
It is something I know deeply now, that training isn’t about pushing and forcing… It’s about committed hard training of course, but with a view to discovering, uncovering, bringing forth what is within…
We are all unique, we all have a different energetic make up, and our own gift to offer; which if we allow it, if we get out of the way, will emerge almost of itself.
In every area of life, when we truly relax, what is needed becomes obvious, whether that be a working practice, or training for our sport, or any endeavour we might engage in…
The path becomes more obvious when we are not trying too hard, when we are not trying at all, but doing what is necessary from a place of relaxation, and self trust born of knowing that being ourself will allow the expression of our own unique contribution to the planet…
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 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.
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Email : juliachitaylor@gmail.com
