Lazy libran gets her running shoes on

I can hardly believe it myself, but yes, I have joined the leagues of runners in our capital, and have rapidly become addicted to this 'injection of joy'!

I realise now that being out in running gear is like being out in a business suit - you are immediately pigeon-holed and virtually invisible other than in this very narrow identity. I have done it myself - labelling the passing 'runner' without considering that they have a whole life separate from running. When I put on my running gear I am no longer office worker, samba drummer, or foxy lady: I am part of the canal 'furniture' that consists of runners, cyclists, fishermen, Emos drinking cider and workmen on their lunchbreak - and thus quite anonymous (though sadly not as invisible as I might like).

It all started when I was reading the Alex James biography 'A Bit of a Blur' back in January this year. Hearing of his metamorphasis from beer-swilling rock star to healthy happy husband/father/farmer, I thought "it can't be so bad afterall, this running malarky" (there's a key point when he takes up jogging). Try to appreciate - this was UNHEARD OF in my mentality previously. Exercise, I always believed, needed to be functional (cycling to work, a dance class, a martial art...) - never would I have set out to run for runnings sake alone... but all that was about to change.

My first attempt was to go up the hill to Angel Islington wearing my bad 'fashion trainers', to 'do a bit of shopping'. Note the number of flaws in this plan: the appallingly inappropriate footwear, the fact that it was going to involve shopping, the HILL....

I didn't pace myself at all, got hideously out of breath, had to keep stopping, and ached all-over having not done any stretches or warm-ups or anything like that - it was enough to put me off for the next 4-5 months.

So really it's all down to my ex-boyfriend (let's call him Mr Slippery Fish). He's a bit mental like that - doing triathlons, marathons, very long cycle-rides, all those sorts of things, a world totally alien to a lazy Libran like me. We only went out for a couple of months, but I seized the opporunity to milk him for advice on running shoes (during an ever-so romantic trip to Runner's Need, where they watched me run and recommended shoes exactly right for my needs) and training regimes (scribbled down during a less-romantic visit to collect some of his stuff after we broke up)... it's good to have such a positive legacy of a failed romance, and here I am now going out several times a week - ME!!

I am very lucky to live and work overlooking the Regent's Canal. From the workmen of Kings Cross, the wildlife of Camley Street Natural Park, and the mashed-up sights, sounds and smells of Camden Town, to the grandiosity of Regents Park, London Zoo, Primrose Hill, and beyond to housing estates, Little Venice, Paddington Basin, and the (as yet un-jogged) farther reaches out towards Notting Hill and beyond.... there's a whole running world out there to be explored!