About Little Swirly

From: Reunion Island, a small French island lost in the Indian Ocean

Residency: London,UK for the last 7 years...













Running Age: 18 months...ish

 
Reasons why I run: Just one: Thirst, unquenchable thirst to get away. 

A little bit more:

I've spent my short existence "running" around continents, never kept a job for long, never stayed in one place for more than a year. I needed to move, to explore, to see what I haven't seen before. My thirst for the unknown led me to live in some cool countries:

Meet some cool people, married the One, own a collection of jobs, but nothing was ever enough. As soon as I was moving in one place, I was already looking to escape to another. Even after moving to England with Mick, in a space of 4 years, we had moved 3 times, I had worked 5 jobs and I couldn't settle anywhere.

By then, Mick had entered his first marathon, I was only running to be with him. I hated it, running around parks and road tracks was so boring! Entering a 10K didn't  make it better, I swore to never do it again. I was aching to get away.

But Mick kept running, from road he quickly went on to trail, and so did I. I still was not enjoy it, there was nice scenery but we were running the same routes and I was getting quickly bored. We entered the Beauty and the Beast marathon, suffering of cramps the whole 6 laps, I swore never again.

But Mick kept running, wanting more elevation, more trails, more everything, and I found myself carrying on following. I was still looking to get away, to move job, to move flat, country but Mick had found something to distract me. I found myself not spending hours looking for places to move to, but looking for trails, big ones, small ones, with ups and down, loads of trees, away from London, away from the city and closer to... my roots.

We entered Steyning Stinger Marathon, known for its challenging ups and downs, but it was not enough, half way through the race, I started to hate it, I needed more. But more what? 

Exmoor Ultra was Mick's next step. I followed and...got a wake up call: throughout the race I was never alone, I had bad cramps, but the ups and downs and the camaraderie felt all the way through made me realise something, During this run, I didn't feel the need to escape. That run had been my gateway: I didn't think of yesterday nor tomorrow.

Some people run to lose weight, for a charity, to prove something to themselves or/and others. I run to escape and get away from it all. I run to get as close as possible to my lost roots, back to the trails of my island.