Movement is a Gift

Each year for the last three years, I’ve participated in a community challenge organised by Scott McGee at The Sisu Way called ‘The Character Mile’.

The Character Mile challenge is to run a mile every day for the month of December and as Scott explains:

“One mile might not not seem like much for some, but that’s not what it was about. It was about character, consistency, commitment, and a celebration.  The health we have, the ability to move, our senses, our will to move forward on our path – is all a gift. There are no ordinary moments.“

As you may know by now, I haven’t historically considered myself a runner, so this challenge each year has been just that… quite a challenge.

This last year I decided to put in more effort than I had the previous two – which basically boiled down to telling myself less excuses about why I couldn’t get better in a month.

Crazy thing happened… I committed harder to the process and like a mysterious magical spell, I got better – SHOCKER.

Fast forward to today, 11th April 2022, and following our afternoon of playing with the girls in the park, we arrived home with very little time before our regular nightly duties would commence.

I started going through workout plans in my head but everything was going to require a few extra minutes of setting up that I didn’t have. I haven’t run for about 4 weeks so I decided that a mile run was on the agenda for me today.

Now I know this doesn’t sound far and in all honesty, it’s not, but rewind to 4 months ago and 1.6 kilometers was a serious challenge for me. I couldn’t finish it without at least 2 quick walking breaks, feeling like my heart may explode, and breathing so laboured that I could barely think.

Today was different.

I got out of the car, stretched my calves a little, headed off cold and ran the mile with relative ease – enjoying 9 minutes of the most glorious and vibrant orange sunset that my little suburb could muster.

I thought clearly and breathed easily while waving and exchanging greetings with neighbours as I ran.

I even got a mosquito out of my eye while I continued running – without using it as an excuse to stop.

Today I got to benefit from the work I put in a few months ago.

Today I really got to understand what Scott means when he says “Movement is a Gift”

I got that gift today.

Thanks Scott.