By Danny Williams
R
unning. Pulling on the trainers. Finding the motivation. Knowing there will be pain to push through. Knowing it will be hard. Why do I do it? Because I do it, and at least three to four times a week, if not more. Some days when I’m pounding the pavement, sucking breath into my lungs, counting down the lactic acid surge, I ask myself ‘why?’.
Runni ng Sucks The truth is I really, truly, don’t know. Here’s the sucker punch. I have always hated running and on more than one occasion, I have told patients it’s no good for them, as it places too much strain on the body. Yet, here I am, surprise surprise, I now run four times a week and have no plans to stop. What the heck is going on? I never liked running and used to hate cross country at school. I would even cheat just to get to the end quicker. I hated everything about it. Now, I prefer trail runs and pushing myself until my lungs burn I’m getting madder in my old age!
A Li fe Changi ng Moment I grew up playing county rugby, capoeira and practising yoga. Four years ago, I went skiing and, on the first day, my wife and I hit the slopes hard. The next day I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t walk and getting out of a ski lift was nearly impossible; they had to slow it down for me. I swore that I would never let this happen again. At the same time, I was still dealing with my Crohn’s diagnosis. I was doing extensive research into how to help myself and I came across Ari Meisel who had severe Crohn’s and, through diet and then physical/endurance exercise, was able to go into remission. Running was one of those endurance exercises. My belief is that I created Crohn’s by not listening to my body. It was my own behaviours that created this autoimmune disease. Now, I had to manage the stress response to allow my body to adapt. This is what we all need to understand, to deal with all these autoimmune diseases and late-onset illnesses if we can. 54 54 Peninsula Peninsula Kids Kids –– Spring Spring 2023 2023