The Flamingo Diaries
It’s almost time to start belting out one of my favourite Christmas carols: Joy To The World. In fact, I adore the word ‘joy’ so much that I seriously considered calling my second running book Joy Running, because, as I told my editor, ‘Running is an incredible source of joy to me and I think that title sounds a bit like “jaywalking” and “joyriding” – both of which are a bit naughty, but also a bit nice.’ The antonym of joy is despair, and I endured a fair bit of that this year. The multiple bereavements I experienced knocked the stuffing out of me, and there were many days when I barely left my bed, let alone my building. The less I ran, the harder it became. That’s when I turned to my Facebook friends for advice on how to inject a little joy into my runs.
Many of them suggested buddying up, while Kelly suggested acknowledging every runner I encountered. ‘A smile and nod go a long way: it’s like being part of a secret club,’ she wrote. An idea I absolutely loved was to create ‘Strava art’; there’s an entire website (strav.art) devoted to this activity, which involves running a route that creates a picture and posting it online. Some of the creations were the equivalent of a two-year-old’s stick figures, but others were so detailed they could hang in the Louvre (check out Tiger Run under ‘Mammals’ to see the terrifying crouching tiger one talented San Francisco runner managed to conjure up). There’s even an entire category devoted to, of all things, snails. ‘I guess I just ran the spirit animal of my running identity,’ quipped the artist of one such mollusc.
Another idea I’ve already tried is looking out for funny or unusual things en route. While in South Africa this year, for example, my favourite spot was a store on Fish Hoek Main Road called the Emergency Happiness Shop. I imagined strolling in to say, ‘I’ve had a truly horrendous week at the care home, so please could you sell me a pound of cheerfulness and
