I’ve been running for 25 years and the more I run, the more I realise it can't be separated from any other part of life. It might sound heavy, but to many runners life is running and running is life. In this post I will look at how and why running is a superb metaphor for the way we live.
It’s a social thing
I’ve met some of the most amazing people I know through running. We share a connection and understanding of each other. Most importantly, we are incredibly loyal – both to our sport and to our friends. I am lucky enough to call the amazing New Zealand runner, Sarah Christie one of these friends. It was Sarah who shared some influential words from former 5k New Zealand record holder (and her ex coach), Dick Quax: running and life cannot and should not be separated in order to get the most out of both. At the time I was too young and naive to really understand what she meant, but her words certainly registered and now I truly appreciate their meaning.
It’s a reflection of good vs bad times
I moved from New Zealand to London in March and the shift really helped me comprehend what Sarah meant by not being able to separate running from your life and vice versa. The roller coaster of jumping hemispheres has had a good mixture of wonderful and tough times. It’s exposed the way that when things are smooth and wonderful, so is my running: the training, the racing and my body’s response to it. However, tougher times mean the opposite: motivation for training is lacking, race performance is below par and running is something I simply have no energy for.
It’s a measure of energy levels
It comes down to the fact that we only have so much to give each day. When we’re doing something that makes us happy, we have energy left to do the things we love, like running. However, if we spend our day in a draining job or situation, all we feel like doing is putting our feet up. The same goes for racing; when life is going well we race well and when times aren't so good, performance drops.
You don’t always have to perform highly
Running is a good variable of measuring your current situation. If it feels easy, natural and you feel excited about getting out for a run then things are very good. If life is a bit bumpy then running might be a put to the side for a while and that, my high achieving running friends, is ok! So what’s the answer? Life is too short to not have anything to give the things that we are passionate about. Find a job or lifestyle that makes you happy and allows the time and energy to enjoy running. If your life accommodates your running, your running will work for you and your life.
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Thursday 24 October 2013
Inspiration from Jeff Edmonds
This is how it works:
Training is doing your homework. It's not exciting. More often than not it's tedious. There is certainly no glory in it. But you stick with it, over time, and incrementally through no specific session, your body changes. Your mind becomes calloused to effort. You stop thinking of running as difficult or interesting or magical. It just becomes what you do. It becomes a habit.
Workouts too become like this. Intervals, tempos, strides, hills. You go to the track, to the bottom of a hill, and your body finds the effort. You do your homework. That's training. Repetition--building deep habits, building a runner's body and a runner's mind. You do your homework, not obsessively, just regularly. Over time you grow to realize that the most important workout that you will do is the easy hour run. That's the run that makes everything else possible. You live like a clock.
After weeks of this, you will have a month of it. After months of it, you will have a year of it.
Then, after you have done this for maybe three or four years, you will wake up one morning in a hotel room at about 4:30am and do the things you have always done. You eat some instant oatmeal. Drink some Gatorade. Put on your shorts, socks, shoes, your watch. This time, though, instead of heading out alone for a solitary hour, you will head towards a big crowd of people. A few of them will be like you: they will have a lean, hungry look around their eyes, wooden legs. You will nod in their direction. Most of the rest will be distracted, talking among their friends, smiling like they are at the mall, unaware of the great and magical event that is about to take place.
You'll find your way to a tiny little space of solitude and wait anxiously, feeling the tang of adrenaline in your legs. You'll stand there and take a deep breath, like it's your last. An anthem will play. A gun will sound.
Then you will run.
- JEFF EDMONDS The Logic of Long Distance
Training is doing your homework. It's not exciting. More often than not it's tedious. There is certainly no glory in it. But you stick with it, over time, and incrementally through no specific session, your body changes. Your mind becomes calloused to effort. You stop thinking of running as difficult or interesting or magical. It just becomes what you do. It becomes a habit.
Workouts too become like this. Intervals, tempos, strides, hills. You go to the track, to the bottom of a hill, and your body finds the effort. You do your homework. That's training. Repetition--building deep habits, building a runner's body and a runner's mind. You do your homework, not obsessively, just regularly. Over time you grow to realize that the most important workout that you will do is the easy hour run. That's the run that makes everything else possible. You live like a clock.
After weeks of this, you will have a month of it. After months of it, you will have a year of it.
Then, after you have done this for maybe three or four years, you will wake up one morning in a hotel room at about 4:30am and do the things you have always done. You eat some instant oatmeal. Drink some Gatorade. Put on your shorts, socks, shoes, your watch. This time, though, instead of heading out alone for a solitary hour, you will head towards a big crowd of people. A few of them will be like you: they will have a lean, hungry look around their eyes, wooden legs. You will nod in their direction. Most of the rest will be distracted, talking among their friends, smiling like they are at the mall, unaware of the great and magical event that is about to take place.
You'll find your way to a tiny little space of solitude and wait anxiously, feeling the tang of adrenaline in your legs. You'll stand there and take a deep breath, like it's your last. An anthem will play. A gun will sound.
Then you will run.
- JEFF EDMONDS The Logic of Long Distance
Thursday 17 October 2013
Adventures of a Kiwi Supply Teacher - A Wee Fishy in a Biiig Pond
This post is about the lessons I learnt from supply teaching and is aimed at other teachers planning on making the move over to London.
I trained to be a
primary teacher in 2010 and started work as a Year 2 teacher in 2011- in a
lovely Auckland school. I worked hard with my classes for the next two years,
gaining plenty of experience with the New Zealand curriculum. I was fortunate
enough to gain comprehensive professional development, especially in the
literacy area. A lot of teachers at my school had spent time teaching in London
and the idea of doing the same thing started to brew in my mind as I neared the
end of my two year registration. The idea grew stronger and stronger until I
had decided it had to be the next step in my teaching career and life journey.
My mentor teacher (the New Zealand registration process has a ‘buddy system’ in
place, where the newly qualified teacher is coupled with an experienced teacher,
to assist in a wide range of ways),
who I looked upon with great respect, had experienced it just before she ‘took
me under her wing’. She stressed to me that it was a good idea, not only was it
beneficial for her career but also for her own personal development. London
offers you something that our small country simply can not. This is purely due
to the difference in population.
Over here in London
you become so much more “Mr or Miss Anonymous” than at home. I quickly realised
how lucky I was to have been educated in a country of such small numbers. The
experience, education and professional development I had gained in New Zealand
was truly a blessing! The registration process I had been through was so
increadibley thorough and I did not truly appreciate this until I was put into
the London schools. I realised our (kiwis) education was very highly sought after
in London and that I would not have a problem finding work.
I spent the next six
months supply teaching. This was an irreplaceable and highly valuable
experience. I won’t lie, there were mornings that I felt very nervous, the
anticipation of not knowing what to expect of the class I was about to enter,
often lead to a few butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I learnt to embrace
this feeling and told myself “this
is all good character building Erin”.
I taught in areas all across London. Not only was this good for my
confidence, by being placed out of my comfort zone (do one thing every day that
scares you-right?) but it was the perfect way to get to know the structure of
London itself, and the tube system. Victoria, Paddington, Oxford Circus were
suddenly a lot more to me than just a monopoly game. My knowledge grew quickly
of where the Northern Line connected to the Victoria Line and so on. I felt a
feeling of being a wee bit of a small fish in a large pond. Something that New
Zealand did not really have the capacity to offer me. Something that is truly
good for the soul!
A few things that supply teaching taught me are….
Children are children - They may look
and speak very differently to the ones in my class at home, but they are all
still children. Strategies that had worked for me at home, also worker
here. This helped me with my own
teaching philosophy – children are people, people have the right to be
respected, once respect is gained -effective teaching can then take place. I guess I had to learn to vary the ways
in which I gained the respect from the children and I had to learn to gain this
respect quickly. This think and act fast requirement was so incredibly valuable
to my teaching and to me as a person.
If I didn’t like a school, I didn’t have to go
back - Coming from New Zealand and having a
good work ethic meant that I was able to be picky, as will other teachers who
are tripping over from across the equator. If I found the school to be
unbearable, I simply got on the phone to my consultant and told them it was not
for me. I left the school at the end of the day feeling satisfied to have made
it through the day, to have come out with more character building experience
but also knowing that I would be off somewhere nicer the next day.
Everyone only has a certain amount of energy –
don’t waste this on attempting to change the world (or a class) in one day– I will be the first to admit this and I am
sure most teachers will be able to relate; I do have a perfectionist
personality. I think it would be difficult to be a teacher without one. I
learnt, over my supply teaching period, about my own personal energy. Energy is
something I am fortunate to have a lot of but perhaps something that needed to
be managed more efficiently. Note well; I am still working on this one. I got
very sick when I first started supply teaching. This was likely due to two
things; new foreign bugs and me wasting my energy on trying to change the world
in a day. Every school has a different way of doing things. This varies
immensely across the different schools and may be different to the way that is
blindingly obviously, the right way.
I learnt to go with it, to let go a bit and do things their way. A maths
lesson may have been left for me which seemed almost a complete waste of time –
just let go and go with it. An English lesson could have been left for me which
suggested teaching something in a way that I would never have previously
considered and perhaps even contrasted to the way in which the New Zealand
curriculum suggests to deliver content. Just go with it and accept that, again,
it’s all character building and in fact broadening personal knowledge of
teaching strategies.
I could actually write
pages and pages about the lessons I learnt whilst supply teaching. I could talk
for hours and hours about the experiences I had – amusing, challenging,
enlightening and random! I hope to meet with many of the other teachers
travelling from overseas so that I can comfort you when you need it, laugh with
you when something funny happens and remind you to just look forward to
tomorrow, when you need it. Supply teaching in London is in irreplaceable and
valuable experience for any young teacher travelling from overseas! I am so
grateful for the way it has developed my career, my personal life experience
and knowledge of myself. I can not recommend the experience more.
Friday 4 October 2013
Coincidences DO NOT exist
As I discussed in "Surprise me September", the past month went above and beyond my request to be surprised - thanks September.
I also mentioned my financial predicament. Coincidently, or not so much, (coincidences do not exist in my opinion) I happened to be reading 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle, on my return to London. The opening chapter discusses how he sat homeless, jobless and broke, in a state of bliss, for sometime after discovering 'the secret to life'. I, not so coincidently, found myself in a similar situation throughout September - one of the most influential months of my life so far.
Before I explain my situation, please don't panic; I have food in my belly, a roof over my head and have have had so throughout the entirety of September. It (September) did, however, expose those people in my life who are truely amazing. One of my favorite quotes states to; "remember those who are there when times are tough so that you know who to share your joy with when things are up". I certainly intend to do this.
I had rented out my room in Battersea to a couple, friends through a friend, for August, while I "lived the dream" in "paradise". We extended this sublease for part of September as I wasn't getting paid until the end of the month for my new teaching job. When I made the decision to do this, again I had not really thought about the reality of the situation. Being homeless at the same time as beginning a new, stressful job is not so much fun. You need to feel a sense of life organisation and stability. Having no home really does not concur to this....at all. Whoops! Lesson learnt. Yes, there is a thought pattern reoccurring here, or lack of. Perhaps something for me to work on. True friends were revealed throughout this time as I simply lived off the kindness of others. Thanks guys, you know who you are and boy, I have got your back.
When I got my own space back I was able to at least organise my personal belongings. Feelings of organisational stability returned and I was able to tune in to how I was feeling about my new job. Not so good. With no disrespect to the school what-so-ever, the way things functioned there were far from what I believe to be a successful learning environment for children. I will leave it there. This time last year, lacking experiences that my travel has provided me with, I would have stuck it out and dealt with the feelings of extreme dread that I was dealing with every morning. BUT, as I mentioned, my trip to Palma and the circumstances that had unfolded so positively and in my favor, had given me strength. I knew the job was not me and was somewhat 'soul destroying'. I left.
On one of the last days in September, I sat with my best friend on our balcony, overlooking The River Thames. She helped me realise that I had had nothing at all - no job, no house, no money and yet I suddenly knew exactly what I wanted. I owed it to 'it' in a way. I knew I had to run my butt off in the London Marathon next year. I had qualified to run in the championship race earlier this year, that's another story, loaded with lessons. I knew I had to prioritise it because running had been my rock, it had calmed me, cleared my head, cheered me up, when I had nothing at all. So that is what I am going to do and that is what my blog will follow. I will blog all things physical, mental and spiritual that keep me on the road, the long, lonely one at that, towards the London Marathon.
Since leaving the job, a new, exciting job has literally fallen my way.My gut, which I have grown to trust instinctively, tells me that it is the right job for me - wahoo!! I am running a 10km this weekend with my new appreciation for my running and starting a new job which is clearly meant to be. Life is good, listen to your gut and watch this space.
I also mentioned my financial predicament. Coincidently, or not so much, (coincidences do not exist in my opinion) I happened to be reading 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle, on my return to London. The opening chapter discusses how he sat homeless, jobless and broke, in a state of bliss, for sometime after discovering 'the secret to life'. I, not so coincidently, found myself in a similar situation throughout September - one of the most influential months of my life so far.
Before I explain my situation, please don't panic; I have food in my belly, a roof over my head and have have had so throughout the entirety of September. It (September) did, however, expose those people in my life who are truely amazing. One of my favorite quotes states to; "remember those who are there when times are tough so that you know who to share your joy with when things are up". I certainly intend to do this.
I had rented out my room in Battersea to a couple, friends through a friend, for August, while I "lived the dream" in "paradise". We extended this sublease for part of September as I wasn't getting paid until the end of the month for my new teaching job. When I made the decision to do this, again I had not really thought about the reality of the situation. Being homeless at the same time as beginning a new, stressful job is not so much fun. You need to feel a sense of life organisation and stability. Having no home really does not concur to this....at all. Whoops! Lesson learnt. Yes, there is a thought pattern reoccurring here, or lack of. Perhaps something for me to work on. True friends were revealed throughout this time as I simply lived off the kindness of others. Thanks guys, you know who you are and boy, I have got your back.
When I got my own space back I was able to at least organise my personal belongings. Feelings of organisational stability returned and I was able to tune in to how I was feeling about my new job. Not so good. With no disrespect to the school what-so-ever, the way things functioned there were far from what I believe to be a successful learning environment for children. I will leave it there. This time last year, lacking experiences that my travel has provided me with, I would have stuck it out and dealt with the feelings of extreme dread that I was dealing with every morning. BUT, as I mentioned, my trip to Palma and the circumstances that had unfolded so positively and in my favor, had given me strength. I knew the job was not me and was somewhat 'soul destroying'. I left.
On one of the last days in September, I sat with my best friend on our balcony, overlooking The River Thames. She helped me realise that I had had nothing at all - no job, no house, no money and yet I suddenly knew exactly what I wanted. I owed it to 'it' in a way. I knew I had to run my butt off in the London Marathon next year. I had qualified to run in the championship race earlier this year, that's another story, loaded with lessons. I knew I had to prioritise it because running had been my rock, it had calmed me, cleared my head, cheered me up, when I had nothing at all. So that is what I am going to do and that is what my blog will follow. I will blog all things physical, mental and spiritual that keep me on the road, the long, lonely one at that, towards the London Marathon.
Since leaving the job, a new, exciting job has literally fallen my way.My gut, which I have grown to trust instinctively, tells me that it is the right job for me - wahoo!! I am running a 10km this weekend with my new appreciation for my running and starting a new job which is clearly meant to be. Life is good, listen to your gut and watch this space.
Sunday 29 September 2013
Surprise Me September
Surprise Me September
One month ago I returned from what was the best holiday of my life. To be perfectly honest, everything about my trip was somewhat of a spiritual experience, which (don't freak out and make a presumption that I am crazy yet) can be traced back through the generations even!
Thirty five years ago my parents (my age at the time) were cycling around Europe. They meet a Swedish couple in a back packers, in Holland. They formed a friendship with Peter and Veveca Branstrom right away. Little did they know that thirty five years later, their offspring (myself and my new, very special friend, Ellinor) would spend a summer together, in a glorious place, neither of us can call home!
My parents and Peter and Vevica exchanged contact details. They kept in touch. While I was a child we visited the Swedish family once and they visited us in my hometown; Christchurch, New Zealand. Ellinor and I did not really stay on touch. However, when I decided to move to London I got in touch with the family. I travelled to Scandanavia as soon as I arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, in March. I only meet up with Ellinor for an hour or so but we both felt we were destined to be great friends. Thanks mum, dad, Peter and Vevica.
I returned to London to pursuit with supply teaching. A very challenging form of earning a living but one which lacked the responsibility of being a classroom teacher and also one which offered me holiday time, to travel.
August quickly approached and I had secured myself a job as a classroom teacher for the following school year, beginning in September. I felt neither positively nor negatively towards this approaching job. If I'm honest now, I did not think about it at all really, I was caught up in the moment, feeling very grateful for the amazing experiences I was having on the other side of the world!
However, I was faced with a wee bit of a financial predicament! Supply teachers do not get paid over summer. So I effectively had two and a half months (time up to my first pay cheque) of no pay. Not so much fun! Savings had looooooong been exhausted! As I was pondering what to do with myself over this time, Ellinor got in touch with me saying she had found a job in Palma. A city on a beautiful island, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. There are worst places in the world to work that is for sure! She works in fashion design and had just bought an apartment there. She asked if I would like to come and stay. I very cheekily requested to stay (free load - sorry Ellinor) for the entire month of August! She agreed but I think we both felt like there was somewhat of a risk involved. We barely new each other after all!!
However, I arrived as dramatically as always (I don't know if I was born to deal with the technicalities of traveling - I'll need to marry someone who can do that for me) and we both had the most amazing time together! We had both taken very different pathways in life, picking up different lessons along the way. Our different ways of viewing life were beneficial to both of us and we managed to exchange viewpoints and learn from each other. When time came for me to leave, we both felt very emotional and grateful towards our parents for blindly initiating an unlikely friendship, so many years ago.
I returned to London as a stronger person because of Ellinor. A little bit of her, or a lot, had rubbed off on me. I also had come back having witnessed nature at its absolute best and equipped with a calmness which often comes associated with this. I also felt true happiness. I had had ALOT of time to think about what makes me happy and what has consistently done so, throughout my life. What I came up with continues to do so despite location, company or any other variable. I came to the realisation that running makes me happy and running has been my rock through many tough times I have faced in recent years . I decided that running simply is the 'love of my life'!
I found it a bit difficult to return to normality to be honest. My time on the island was almost to good to be true! I pinched myself numerous times and had to time and time again remind myself how incredibly lucky I was that my life circumstances had brought me there. Back in London, one month ago now, I posted an image to my beloved Instagram page - "Surprise me September. " http://instagram.com/erinwhitla
September surprised me and I surprised myself.
To be continued......
http://instagram.com/erinwhitla https://www.facebook.com/erin.whitla
One month ago I returned from what was the best holiday of my life. To be perfectly honest, everything about my trip was somewhat of a spiritual experience, which (don't freak out and make a presumption that I am crazy yet) can be traced back through the generations even!
Thirty five years ago my parents (my age at the time) were cycling around Europe. They meet a Swedish couple in a back packers, in Holland. They formed a friendship with Peter and Veveca Branstrom right away. Little did they know that thirty five years later, their offspring (myself and my new, very special friend, Ellinor) would spend a summer together, in a glorious place, neither of us can call home!
My parents and Peter and Vevica exchanged contact details. They kept in touch. While I was a child we visited the Swedish family once and they visited us in my hometown; Christchurch, New Zealand. Ellinor and I did not really stay on touch. However, when I decided to move to London I got in touch with the family. I travelled to Scandanavia as soon as I arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, in March. I only meet up with Ellinor for an hour or so but we both felt we were destined to be great friends. Thanks mum, dad, Peter and Vevica.
I returned to London to pursuit with supply teaching. A very challenging form of earning a living but one which lacked the responsibility of being a classroom teacher and also one which offered me holiday time, to travel.
August quickly approached and I had secured myself a job as a classroom teacher for the following school year, beginning in September. I felt neither positively nor negatively towards this approaching job. If I'm honest now, I did not think about it at all really, I was caught up in the moment, feeling very grateful for the amazing experiences I was having on the other side of the world!
However, I was faced with a wee bit of a financial predicament! Supply teachers do not get paid over summer. So I effectively had two and a half months (time up to my first pay cheque) of no pay. Not so much fun! Savings had looooooong been exhausted! As I was pondering what to do with myself over this time, Ellinor got in touch with me saying she had found a job in Palma. A city on a beautiful island, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. There are worst places in the world to work that is for sure! She works in fashion design and had just bought an apartment there. She asked if I would like to come and stay. I very cheekily requested to stay (free load - sorry Ellinor) for the entire month of August! She agreed but I think we both felt like there was somewhat of a risk involved. We barely new each other after all!!
However, I arrived as dramatically as always (I don't know if I was born to deal with the technicalities of traveling - I'll need to marry someone who can do that for me) and we both had the most amazing time together! We had both taken very different pathways in life, picking up different lessons along the way. Our different ways of viewing life were beneficial to both of us and we managed to exchange viewpoints and learn from each other. When time came for me to leave, we both felt very emotional and grateful towards our parents for blindly initiating an unlikely friendship, so many years ago.
I returned to London as a stronger person because of Ellinor. A little bit of her, or a lot, had rubbed off on me. I also had come back having witnessed nature at its absolute best and equipped with a calmness which often comes associated with this. I also felt true happiness. I had had ALOT of time to think about what makes me happy and what has consistently done so, throughout my life. What I came up with continues to do so despite location, company or any other variable. I came to the realisation that running makes me happy and running has been my rock through many tough times I have faced in recent years . I decided that running simply is the 'love of my life'!
I found it a bit difficult to return to normality to be honest. My time on the island was almost to good to be true! I pinched myself numerous times and had to time and time again remind myself how incredibly lucky I was that my life circumstances had brought me there. Back in London, one month ago now, I posted an image to my beloved Instagram page - "Surprise me September. " http://instagram.com/erinwhitla
September surprised me and I surprised myself.
To be continued......
http://instagram.com/erinwhitla https://www.facebook.com/erin.whitla
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)