This is you

Jag har en stor utmaning som väntar om 60 dagar. I februari springer jag mitt livs hittills längsta lopp och jag ser fram emot det med pirriga förväntningar och fjärilar i magen. Härom dagen fick ett Instagram-inlägg från arrangören mig att få rysningar i hela kroppen. Det känns redan så rätt att springa just det här loppet, på så många sätt, och de här orden gör inte saken mindre bra. Alla ni som någon gång har utmanat er själva fysiskt kommer att känna igen er. För min egen del säger det otroligt mycket om varför jag springer… Löpningen gör mig så levande!

We need less then we think we need.
You don’t need anyone to carry you. You need a hug.
You need a hand squeezing a wet sponge down the back of your neck to cool you down.
You need a high-five to snap you back from your own dark thoughts.
You need someone running alongside you for a little while, telling you hoe great you’re doing.

Because you are doing great.
It’s Saturday morning and you could be down at the shopping mall browsing stuff you don’t need spending money you don’t have.
You could be on the sofa passively staring at the screen, telling yourself it’s your reward for a week of hard work.
You could be doing one of the hundreds of other things you did that never brought you the joy that being out here brings you.

But you’re here.
Every part of you hurts and yet every part of you wants to be here.
The trails are your home.
They are your shopping mall and they are your sofa and they are the true happiness you kept seeking
but failing to find in all those other places.

This is you.
If the legs hurt, hop and skip for a few steps like a child around a water sprinkler.
Remember those days? When you could run and never get tired?
Your mum would call you in for dinner and you couldn’t believe the injustice of this world,
that she was forcing you to sit down when all you wanted to do was stay out there,
running around, the sun slightly sizzling your skin.

This is you.
It’s been you since those water sprinkler days.
Not everyone gets the chance to find themselves again like you did.
You don’t need anyone to carry you.
You need a nod, a smile.
A sweaty hug when things get tough – but you carry yourself.
And just when you think you can’t carry on anymore, you take another step and you keep going.

This is grit. You had it in you all along.

Vilket lopp jag ska springa? Jag återkommer.