I’ve just applied for a place in a half marathon, inspired by my baby niece who was recently born in Melbourne, Australia, with a TOF/OA (Tracheo-Oesophageal Fistula and Oesophageal Atresia are congenital conditions of the food pipe and/or airway).
Don’t worry, I’d never heard of it either. Like so many things in life, it’s only when you come into direct contact with a condition that you first become aware of its existence, and then learn to your surprise, that it is quite common – one in 3,500 births as it goes.
A charming barista who works in the café where I write, overheard me chatting about it to a friend and promptly announced, “I’m a TOF/OA”, then lifted up his shirt to reveal numerous scars from multiple surgeries and told me that his stomach now resides in his right shoulder. He spent the first two years of his life in Great Ormond Street and is now a thriving and incredibly kind young man. Inspiring stuff . . .
Like all of us, I get lazy about exercise. Yes, I run regularly, but I’m not putting my back into it. I jog 5k so slowly, even Helen Thorn (of the Scummy Mummies Duo) was able to keep up with me last week – no offence Helen! I slack off, I skive sessions, I lose interest, and I just plain can’t be bothered sometimes. On really bad days, I even ask, what’s the point?
Then have to tell myself, not gently you understand, but in the shouty voice of the Grit Doctor: Duh, the point is to keep fit and strong and lean and healthy and sane Ruth, so stop whingeing about it and just do it. Which works most of the time, but I’ve not stretched myself really, not for years . . .
Then something like this happens, and I’m reminded how I can use the simple act of running to make a difference. When it stopped being about me and I made it be about something else – I was moved and inspired into taking action.
Every time I think of all the people at The Monash Children’s Hospital involved with my niece’s care, I well up with tears. From the phenomenal surgeon and his team who performed a mammoth operation on her first day of life to separate her oesophagus from her trachea and put it all back together again so she could feed and breathe – the most basic bodily functions that we take completely for granted; to the wonderful nurses and doctors involved with her care non-stop in the NICU; to my gorgeous brother-in-law and baby sister – whose birth I remember – stoically pumping milk every three hours 24/7 surrounded by tubes and alarms by day, and by an empty crib at home each night, never knowing what news the next day would bring. After 42 days, the news was that their baby could come home . . .
We all need to motivate ourselves afresh sometimes. I’ve been running in my comfort zone for so long, I’d forgotten I was even in it. Entering this half marathon has catapulted me – joyously, perilously, fearfully – out of it. And I have you, Rafaela Grace Konieczny, to thank for that.
The Grit Doctor says (to herself)
Get moved into taking action. Baby Raf, this one’s for you x
Sign up for one of The Irish Times' Get Running programmes (it is free!).
First, pick the programme that suits you.
- Beginner Course: This programme is an eight-week course that will take you from inactivity to being able to run 30 minutes non-stop.
- Stay On Track: The second programme is an eight-week course for those of you who can squeeze in a 30- to 40-minute run three times a week.
- 10km Course: This is an eight-week course designed for those who can comfortably run for 30 minutes and want to move up to the 10km mark.
Best of luck!