August 13

I had a lot of time for reflection this weekend.

Growing up, my school report cards were always packed with As.

Except in one subject.

Physical Education. (PE) I did not excel in sports. In fact, I got given a D for fitness.

It wasn’t that I hated sports per se. I was obsessed with Basketball during the Michael Jordan era. But my secondary school only cared about Rugby and Cricket. Two sports I despised. Dull, painful sports.

Occasionally we played hockey, which I was actually relatively good at. Apart from the ability to run. Like I said, I got Ds for fitness.

Teams were divided up by skill. But not by hockey skills. By our running skills.

At the start of each class, we would do a lap of the field. Our position finishing would determine what group we played in. I’d always be in the back of course, and ended up in the bottom. Put into the D group.

Then we’d start playing hockey. I would be far too good for the Ds. So they’d move me up to the Cs. Then the Bs. And then they would tell me I should be playing with the As. (Who trained elsewhere, a much further run away - UGH).

But, the next week we’d do the run again. I wasn’t any fitter, so I got put back in the Ds again.

Whatever.

My best friends were sporty, and teased me about my not-fit-for-sport body.

So I decided to change that.

In over a decade of school, and hundreds of A grades, the only mark that ever mattered to me was the day I saw my report for PE go from a D to a B. It was the lowest grade of all my subjects, but I still remember how elated I felt.

Either way, I definitely never considered myself a runner.

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By University, I still wasn’t a runner.

I’d probably never run more than 5k in my life. Too many traumatic memories from school. But I’d found other sports like Snowboarding and Breakdancing, and the gym.