Annalie continues her musings on London life in the slow lane: I know what you’re thinking – what’s slow about running? That’s a fast activity. Well, believe me you can do it pretty slowly if you try. Not that I am trying, it’s just I’m not that fit yet, and all the other runners seem a bit hardcore.

I invent excuses for myself like: “he’s a man, they have stronger legs…” or “she probably only just started and I’ve been at it for ten minutes!” – or even more ridiculous – “huh, they all take themselves so seriously, at least I’m enjoying myself.”

I do experience a certain slowness when running though. It could be that because I’ve speeded up everything else appears to have slowed down. But there is also a kind of euphoric calm that happens to me midway through my run, after the initial horror of engaging in exercise starts to recede, and I begin to notice things. Sense perceptions become stronger, colours more vivid – the sky is bluer, I can smell the Autumn leaves – again, possibly my body’s way of blocking out the pain of physical exertion, but it feels synchronised rather than disconnected.

I had a teacher of movement at drama school who used to tell us to “slow time down” when we were trying to do a fast dance routine; somehow the mind could make everything run more slowly so that it had chance to stay present. It’s an excellent thing to try when you’re running for a bus or pushing through the crowds at Oxford Circus in rush hour. I suppose it’s essentially a way of focusing in your energy on the specific detail of the task in hand, rather than running away with the storyline of being late, or a rubbish dancer.

When I return from my run several things happen: Firstly I slow down to a complete stop, out of pure necessity, because I’m knackered. Secondly everything else seems to be much slower for a while in contrast to the speed I recently experienced. And finally I feel an overwhelming smugness that temporarily removes the need to worry about anything else.

Annalie Wilson
www.annalie.co.uk/

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