Run, Susan, Run (Part 2)
Susan notes: My friend Yang-May Ooi recently started running. She asked her Fusion View blog
readers to share their experiences around how they had begun to run. So
I created my first-ever podcast for her to include in HER podcast. This
is the follow-up, the second in a series of three. Click on the player
to hear my experience; read on if you want more detail.
It occurred to me then that sometimes, in order to fully appreciate
the awesome beauty of the stars, you must immerse yourself in total
darkness. (I remind myself of that whenever things seem a little
black.) The view just down from the summit was equally awesome.
In December 2005, at age 49, I participated in my first sprint
triathlon – half the distance of an Olympic event, but a triathlon
nonetheless.
Three months later, I celebrated my 50th birthday with a second
triathlon, and took first in my class. (So what if there were only two
competitors in the over-50 females category?)
(By the way, congratulations and thanks to Julie Hall, Ironman triathlete, personal trainer and driving force behind the Dubai Tri Club. Julie expertly and enthusiastically organises most of the triathlon events that take place in Dubai.)
In May 2006, I tackled Mt Toubkal
, the highest mountain in Northern Africa, with my friend Elaine
(again!), and several of her co-workers. We had a grand time trekking
through Morocco’s Atlas Mountains for five days before finally making
our way up the ‘piece de resistance.’
I fell ill with fever and had to be carried by donkey to the base of
the mountain, but after a night’s rest I made it to the top, with the
rest of the group, under my own steam.
It was exhilarating.
Unfortunately, injuries I sustained in the summer of 2007 nipped my
running and trekking career in the bud. I haven’t been able to do much
besides cycle, swim an workout in the last two years because of
Achilles tendonitis and plantar faceitus in both legs and feet.
But all of that my change with new equipment that has allowed me to start running again….
