Dubai Fitness Challenge: My long-running relationship with my body

Dubai - Dubai Fitness Challenge presents us with an opportunity to realign with ourselves

This week marks the beginning of one of the most exciting months in the city — the month of Dubai 30x30, when the city focuses on one simple, very easily achievable goal — workout for 30 minutes every day for 30 days. The question is — will this be the Dubai 30x30 that gets you started on your fitness journey?

A few months ago, as I was on holiday, I remember sitting at a breakfast table. The head of the tour company had just come back from a run. His eyes looked lit up, his energy could move a room, and he told us that he had just run up to the top of the mountain for a nice view of Berat, the town we were in. I want that, I thought. I came back to Dubai and found I could not run more than 300 metres without needing to stop and breathe. But I persisted. 300 became 500, which became 1 km, that, in turn, became 3km, which became 10km. My hours spent running became my favourite time of the day when I listened to music, audio books, or podcasts.

Today, I am training for a very long run in February. And I will do it. I have a plan, and a new pair of shoes, and the willpower to put one foot ahead of the next.

I am doing it for a very special reason. My father marks 25 years of using a wheelchair this year, and I want to run 25km — 1km for every year he could not. I am running for my Dad, and for every time he wanted to get up and walk but could not, for every time he wished he could step outside and get some air, but needed someone to push him.

Knowing this, setting this as my ‘intent’ has changed the way I see my relationship with working out, with moving. I move because I can, I move because it is a celebration of this miracle — my legs. I run not because I have to look thinner, or to have a flatter stomach. If anything, my toe nails look pretty terrible nowadays. I move to make my world a bigger place.

My one hour, from the moment I lace up my sneakers to the moment I come back home, is the hour I take to talk to my best friend — my body. I listen to her, I move with her, I appreciate her. I acknowledge all that she does to keep me going, to keep me safe, to keep me doing what I want to do. I admire my body, would you believe that? A woman at 35, with all her marks and scars and bumps and curves? I admire this miraculous work of art. And because I love my body — I expect others treat her well too.

I am starting to understand that life is essentially about learning how to be a good friend to yourself. Training your inner voice to sound like the kind, generous, loving friend you have always needed. And running, moving, lifting, swimming, riding is a daily practice of doing that — like relationship therapy, like a date night, like prayer — it is all about consistency.

I am starting to see how this commitment, this schedule, this daily physical practice — is making me a better teacher, a better leader, a better boss. It’s making me celebrate the simple and wonderful joys of setting your mind to a goal, not being the best at it, but doing it anyway — and eventually getting better.

It has made me appreciate that I am, in fact, a hard worker. And while many may be more gifted or talented or more of a ‘natural’ at this, I have something that not many can claim to have — the perseverance to keep going. To make a commitment and stick to it. To see it through. And this is perhaps more powerful than anything else.

This month, my plea to you is to take some time to listen to your own body. To walk it. To watch what it consumes, what impact it has on you. You may not like everything you hear, you may start very small, but start. We cannot be living our lives building bank balances and homes for our children while we continue to treat the machine that makes it all possible, badly.

Your children can wait. Your work can wait. Your boss can certainly wait. Your phone and the scrolling habit do not need you. You need you. Your body needs you. So, let’s make this the month we started something.

wknd@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai