Fortunately, Run Brave started picking up momentum and before I knew it, my days were jam packed. I’d wake up early to train, go to work, train again, work on Run Brave, eat, sleep, repeat. This became my life from late July until the 2017 Run Brave Challenge date on Saturday 4th November. Throw into the mix, training for Long Course Weekend in October and it didn’t leave me much time to feel sorry for myself. In fact, it didn’t leave me much time for anything. This takes us to Balance (It can still go and fuck itself).

You see, I am normally a bit of a neat freak. I like my house clean and tidy, I like to know where my things are and I hate excess stuff and clutter. It was less than a year ago, my mentor, friend and life coach, Sarah Eriksson, made me try a few things to better manage my life and give me more energy to focus on what’s necessary and what’s important. One of those things was, “Kate, leave your bed unmade, pull the door closed, it’s not going to kill anyone.” During the last three months, I tapped into this lesson time and time again. I applied this lesson to nearly every area of my life (Possibly more so than necessary) My previously tidy home became an absolute shambles. Not because I became lazy, not because I suddenly found a love for disorder and chaos, but because I only had time to focus on what was necessary and what was important (not vouch or balance).

My office space, a sea of clutter, boxes of Run Brave merchandise, a heavily concealed desk covered in lists, notes, papers, phone numbers and ideas that I would never actually get to and a paper bin overflowing with absolute ridiculousness. An unmade bed, piles of dirty clothes on the floor, dirty dishes leaving me forkless (no pun intended) and an empty fridge (there was wine…always wine). I lived in unwashed jeans and I learnt about dry shampoo. I ate the same things, day in day out. It saved me time, money and energy. Outside, the weeds in my garden were taking over, the cobwebs multiplied. None of it mattered. I need to mention the bucket of vegetable scraps that was sitting on my bench for more than a week (It could have been two, possibly three). By the time I emptied it, it had almost composted itself. Don’t judge me, I was productive….elsewhere (Balance can vouch for it).

Okay, so things may have gotten well out of hand, but it didn’t kill anyone, especially not me! In fact, lacking balance quite possibly kept me alive and played a massive hand in the success of the second ever Run Brave Challenge.

There have been a few dodgy moments during the last few months. I found myself back in a place I hadn’t visited for some time. I was back on the edge of that deep dark hole that eats you up if you climb in deep enough. That deep dark hole that some never climb out of…..depression! It’s a killer!

The thing is, I am better equipped now. I am more aware of what I need to do to manage those visits to this most undesirable holiday destination. A destination that doesn’t leave us with sunkissed skin and fond memories, but scarring and anguish.

We all know why I run. I run to live a stronger life. I run to live. Funnily enough, this time around, I needed Run Brave more than ever. More than it needed me. Like everything, balance has a time and a place, but sometimes you need to throw it out the window with the banana peel that’s been sitting on your car floor for three weeks.

To Run is to Live!