Sushi Tuesdays by Charlotte Maya

Author:Charlotte Maya [Maya, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637587287
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2022-12-16T07:35:53+00:00

Chapter 24

A Little Angry Runs a Long Way

A random woman at the park once told me: “You’ve got to treat your sons like you treat the dog…. Take them for a run every day.” This would turn out to be good advice for the mother of said sons, too.

I had always hated running. I never ran voluntarily, never felt inspired to run, never saw a runner who looked remotely happy during the process. I thought “good run” was an oxymoron. I had stumbled on running as a socially palatable form of grieving, a sweating out of tears. I ran alone. I didn’t enjoy running, but I kept at it, because I felt better after a run—“run” being a generous term for my pace.

Every May, Paradise Canyon Elementary held a community “fun run,” charting a course around the neighborhood. I hadn’t run a timed mile since the presidential fitness test when I was in elementary school, but Sarah convinced me to sign up with her. “I’ll stay with you. It’ll be fun! Our goal will be to run the mile without stopping or walking.” Sarah had a contagious laugh, and I couldn’t resist her misguided enthusiasm.

When I first met Sarah, she described her family with a straightforward, “We have four kids.” Months later, I would learn that her first husband left her when she was eight months pregnant. He had been having an affair with her best friend. She later remarried, and together she and her second husband had two “his,” one “hers,” and one “theirs,” but she never differentiated the children in this way. She simply opened her tender heart and mothered them all, not allowing how they had arrived in her nest to define how she related to them.

The starting horn blew, and a jumble of parents and kids burst ahead. Sarah and I fell into a comfortable pace, keeping up a conversation to distract ourselves from the misery of running. The second half of the course featured a slight uphill grade, and Sarah began to tire. She had raced in the 5K earlier that morning. “You’ve got this!” she encouraged me. “Just go!”

I started to pick up speed. I set my sights on catching one runner ahead of me, and then the next. I heard my friend behind me, yelling, “Go, Charlotte, Go!” As I neared the finish line, I pushed harder. I had no idea what my time was, and I didn’t care. I crossed the finish line gaining speed and confidence.

I was an unlikely athlete. Christian Science focuses on spiritual identity, almost to the exclusion of the body. It is a largely cerebral and almost wholly disembodied perspective. There was no discussion of nutrition, or cardiovascular health, or the mental and physical benefits of exercise-induced dopamine. The theology of Christian Science champions creation as described in the first chapter of Genesis: “So God created man in his own image, in the image and likeness of God created He him; male and female, created He them.” Full stop.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.