So I was sat talking with a friend who, when they heard that I hadn’t ran for a couple of weeks, jibed ‘Get a treadmill’.  Whilst this is obviously something that would be very expensive and space-consuming, it really wouldn’t give me the same enjoyment anyway.  Running, for me, is a release.  A release from the stresses of the day, from working, from worries and pretty much anything else.  Okay, so what stresses does a 20-year-old have to overcome?  I can imagine you thinking to yourselves, wait until you’re working, with children etc etc.  With the greatest of respect, I really don’t care.

Running is a release, a chance to escape from whatever stresses, worries and work I have to do.  It’s also a time to think, what’s for tea, the extra food I can afford myself as a reward for running, what I need to do in the week, how I’m going to approach an essay at uni, how I’m going to organise my time in order to get everything done.

It allows me to do this because it allows me to escape.  To captivate myself in a room, whether at the gym, or, in the event of a lottery win, on a treadmill at home (fanciful thinking!) would inhibit that escape, that release of endorphins that makes running so enjoyable.