How running has helped my life as a new graduate

There are very few things that can force the off switch in my brain. When it comes to my spare time outside of practice, it is very easy to find my mind drifting back towards work.

There are even nights when my dreams are filled with fluid rates and client phone calls – which aren’t the most relaxing, I can tell you.

Locating the off switch

I’ve always enjoyed weight lifting, yoga, reading and sketching, but none of these activities managed to occupy 100% of my attention, and sometimes I even feel guilty for “indulging” in them because there was always something more productive I could be doing.

For some reason running is different. Maybe it’s the repetitive motion that’s mentally relaxing, or the fact that I am by no means an actual runner – a lot of mental effort goes into not just stopping, sitting down and having a slice of cake (a fight I sometimes lose) – but running somehow just gets my mind to settle; a small chunk of time carved aside for myself.

Settling in

I’ve never been a proper runner. I took up jogging during the UK coronavirus lockdowns as a mechanism for maintaining my sanity, but my very limit was a 5K.

When I moved to Cornwall to start a new job I found myself at least three hours away from the closest family or friends, so I decided to push out of my comfort zone and join a local running group, where the shortest run was five miles (not the same thing, it turns out).

Not only did this help me to make friends in an unfamiliar place, but it got me outside and socialising during the darker period of the year when all you really want to do is hide indoors in the warm and dry.

The fact the club meets at a set time every week also forced me to prioritise the exercise because I physically couldn’t reschedule or procrastinate it away, and once I had a running buddy to show up for, there were even fewer excuses for missing a run.

“A lot of mental effort goes into not just stopping, sitting down and having a slice of cake.” Image produced with Firefly (AI)

Mental strength

I don’t think anybody could say that veterinary professionals don’t have mental toughness, nor emotional stamina (both are a must to even make it into vet school, let alone through to the other side), but I think we all have personal imaginary limits – things we tell ourselves we could never do, or we’re not good enough for. It’s the impostor syndrome that hangs over us all, which can stop us putting in for a promotion, trying a new CPD course, or taking on more complicated cases.

Before I started running I had an imaginary limit in my head, telling me I could never run more than five miles. That just seemed like a super-human distance for me. Then one day I ran five-and-a-half, then I tried my luck and ran eight, then 10…

I may still be very much at a snail’s pace in comparison to more seasoned runners, but proving to yourself that the limits you’ve created for yourself are only imaginary is a powerful tool that filters into every aspect of your life.

Running for others

This summer I ran my first half-marathon (something I never thought I’d do) to raise money on behalf of Cancer Research UK, a charity that does amazing work fighting a disease that affects all of our lives one way or another and is constantly working to redefine the limits of what is possible.

I am by no means the most graceful runner, nor the fastest (or fittest), but I’m sure I will learn. My hope is that by enjoying it and learning to take time for my other hobbies, I can enjoy my new vocation even more.