An obsession is born

About six weeks ago I took it into my head to join a gym, get a personal trainer and enter a 10km trail run......it seemed like a good idea at the time. I had no idea just how good an idea it was until I realized that I have found a new focus in my world; something to strive for that wasn't about work, wasn't about relationships, wasn't about being a "new immigrant" and was all about me (although I guess all of the above is about me!).

Back in July, 2009 my worlds collided in a happy turn of circumstance - I went to New Zealand for the first time in three years. I had been nervous about the trip, unsure how I might feel. I had left in 2006 knowing that leaving was exactly what I was supposed to be doing but my world had been severely shaken in advance of my departure. I was at a complete loss as to who I was and what the previous 3.5 years had been all about........now I know. They had been about nothing more than bringing me to the point where everything I had known, trusted and believed in was, in a single moment, gone. I had been offered the unique opportunity to re.invent, revitalize and refocus my life, and here I am, doing exactly that. Or maybe the next step, given I have found a job I love, settled (at least for now) in a little house in Santa Cruz and made some new friends to supplement the old.

My next big step - all going to plan in 2010 I will cross the finish line of the NY Marathon, having run 26.4 miles. This is the first step in that journey.