Released On 09 June 2025
Anushka's blog: Running Away From Stress and Negativity
My love for running started in childhood. I remember a school disco. A few popular girls had been asked to dance. Everyone else, looked on like wallflowers, apparently unaware of their freedom to dance without a partner! ‘American Pie’ was blaring out and I felt the distinct need to move. I noticed a freshly painted 400m track on the field outside the hall and excitedly alerted my friends to this clearly unmissable opportunity! They looked at me like the crazy person I was, but, undeterred, I ran around the 400m track alone as many times as I could, high on the increased energy and happiness I garnered the more I ran!
Although I cringe somewhat recalling this anecdote, I am proud that I danced to my own tune back then and still do now. Remembering what you really enjoyed when young is often the key to discovering what makes you happy as an adult. I still feel that same excitement when I see the racetrack at my son’s athletic meets yet feel slightly ridiculous that I should still want to race in my late 40s.
Running is something I do intuitively when I’ve had a long and stressful day tied to my work desk. Like a caged animal, I can’t wait to unleash myself and run with music, a literal ‘fight or flight response’. Everything falls into place and my worries dissipate. It’s therapeutic. I once had a particularly challenging boss and my coping mechanism each time he annoyed me was to harness my anger to fuel a better marathon time.
I enjoy run clubs around London as I meet such a diverse cross-section of people. It’s so positive to see that these run clubs are often set up by a single person or couple of friends, usually quite young, and manage to quickly gain huge popularity and sponsorship due to their social media reach. They provide a valuable, free fitness and wellbeing resource in a big city, an opportunity to have real-life conversations with strangers and a safe way to run at night. The energy that is put into these clubs, planning routes, filming footage, providing pacers and someone running with a sound system on their back as the run club takes over the streets is both inspiring and a little rebellious. I also find the can-do attitude of the run club leaders infectious. In my head I was telling myself, I‘d need a detailed training plan in place to get my 5km time down to 24 minutes. When I mentioned this ambition to one run leader, she matter-of-factly said, ‘I’ll run this run at 24 mins pace, you know the way, keep up if you can!’ And, just like that, I did. My barrier was mental, not physical.
Months later and I have joined my local athletics club and have been very much welcomed. I’m learning to conquer my imposter syndrome of feeling too old and slow and enjoying feeling like a child again running around the track!
Anushka works full time for a professional services firm, is married with two kids aged 14 and 12.
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