Saturday 14 September 2024
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote anything. Work and university get in the way and for about 10 days I had a ‘slow burn’ RTI that whist not bad enough to keep me off work, did leave me feeling drained. Just what I needed when I was struggling to get my head around an assignment on policy development. It wasn’t helped that the policy case study was Australian superannuation!
Eventually, I did get back to the gym on Tuesday 3 September. Whilst the gym provides an opportunity to get some exercise in, plodding away on the treadmill is not very fulfilling. So, on Friday 6 September, I put my social anxiety into a locker and went to try out the Running 4 Resilience experience.
Running 4 Resilience
Running 4 Resilience is a community group that has a tagline of “A Suicide Free Canberra” and is based on the concept that exercise and connection are fundamental in helping to counter the debilitating effects of depression. Having lived with depression since my teens, exercise was usually the way that I prevented full-on decline into addiction.
Sunrise over Lake Burley Griffin 6 September 2024
As Friday is my work from home day, I don’t have to arrive at 7:15am (or earlier) to guarantee a parking spot in the cheapest all-day parking lot in Civic, so instead I was at the Arc De Resilience on Kingston Foreshore at 6:15am. There were about 100 hardy souls, ranging from runners to walkers with dogs. I walked/jogged for about 30 minutes and then had a coffee before heading home.
At the Arc De Resilience after first my walk/jog with Running 4 Resilience
After a rest day on Saturday, I walked/jogged around Lake Tuggeranong, a 6.15km circuit in just over an hour.
Mist coming off Lake Tuggeranong – 8 September 2024
Gym workouts followed on Monday and Wednesday mornings, including a 23-minute non-stop jog (at 7kph) on Monday.
Yesterday saw me back at the Arc De Resilience at 6:15am. There was an added reward in that the team from R U OK? were on hand to provide a BBQ when we finished. (Thursday 12 September 2024 was R U OK? Day.)
Canoests on Lake Burley Griffin 13 September 2024
I walk/jogged 3.5km in 30 minutes. So, although my lungs were burning and my legs felt leg lead, I have definitely made progress. I fully enjoyed my sausage sizzle and double espresso!
The R U OK? team setting up the end of event BBQ 13 September 2024
Back to London 