#13 - Running

#13 - Running

This story discusses:

• How did I start my running practices? 

• Why running? 

• Tell me about you.

“Run into your unknown.” – Becs Gentry

Hello beautiful souls.
Today I want to speak about something very close to my heart—and my body. The practice of running.

I wasn’t the “sporty” type growing up. I didn’t like physical education classes. I wasn’t “good” at it, and I knew it. Shame appeared to me like a second skin—I was self-conscious, uncomfortable in my body. I was the chubby kid, the one who avoided mirrors and changing rooms. I carried that weight—physically and emotionally—until I arrived to Australia.

Australia was a beginning disguised as an escape. I landed here in 2018 with just a backpack.

I didn’t fully understand why I came, but something in me knew it was time. Six years on, I’m still here. And this land has changed me.

My running practice didn’t arrive all at once. It grew slowly, like a seed waking up underground. Being so far from home, I started shedding—first layers of self-doubt, then kilograms. Between September 2018 and July 2019, I lost 15 kilos. Becoming a vegetarian was a big part of that shift. No meat, no seafood, no animal oils. Just plants, lentils, veggies and fruits.

Back then, I didn’t own a car. I worked in hospitality and construction jobs, walking thousands of steps each day. In 2021, when I was living in Sydney for a year, I was clocking 10,000 to 15,000 steps daily—often uphill, often breathless. I added yoga (vinyasa yoga). I was challenging myself every day.

Then came the heartbreak. September 2021. A difficult breakup.

I noticed I was walking faster and faster, like my body was trying to outrun my thoughts. And one day, walking turned to running. I didn’t plan it. I didn’t have fancy shoes or a running training plan. But it felt right.

A few kilometres became five. Five became seven. Then nine. I began running loops around Centennial Park in Sydney, feeling proud and free and alive. Aliveness! I feel so alive when I run!

I discovered how much my body could do when I treated it with love and persistence instead of punishment

When I moved to South Australia, my running hit its peak. Ten kilometres. Tears of joy. Every step a prayer of gratitude. My whole being felt light and strong and utterly present.

Running makes me feel free. It makes me feel strong. It makes me feel powerful. Not because it’s easy—because it’s not. But because I keep showing up. Starting a run is a win in itself. Waking up at 5am, sipping my coffee, journaling with the first light, then lacing up my shoes and go out for a run… it’s sacred. My morning ritual.

No matter what the day brings, I move my body every morning and I take this as a win.

Running is the best way I’ve found to dissolve anxiety. It forces me into presence—my breath, my lungs, my belly. Especially before sunrise, when the world is still dark and I must pay attention to every step. I set intentions when I run. Today’s was: I am calm and relaxed. All is temporary. I promised myself I would run until the stress left my body. I ran 7K!

Tonight’s run was aimless (when I wrote these sentences, I had a Saturday evening run). I didn’t know how far I’d go or how I’d feel. But I ran into my unknown, just like Becs Gentry says. Running is uncomfortable, challenging, and sometimes hurting. But it’s also love—pure, burning, transformative love.

In psychotherapy, we welcome the unknown—the darkness, the discomfort, the invisible threads that bind and break us. Running is the same. That’s why I love it. It teaches me to move with what I don’t yet understand.

So now I turn it to you:
- Tell me about your stress-relief—but uncomfortable—practice.
- How do you take care of your whole self?

I’m sending you pure, genuine love—light-filled, earthy, and calm.
Take care of your whole self. Of each other. Of your community.
Nurture the natural world—around you, and within you.

With nature’s guidance,
Sarah from sarahfrustietherapy

Written 06/04/2024
Published 21/05/2025