Skippy versus Freud and his couch

Cold, (-3 to -4) frosty, and foggy conditions greeted my Saturday running group as we went through our paces over familiar turf this morning through Isaacs, Mt Wanniassa and Mt Taylor in Canberra's southern suburbs. From the top of Mt Taylor, Telstra Tower (left) put on a show as it rocketed through the heavy fog over central Canberra.

For part of the run I had a really interesting chat about the mental side of running with Emma, one of the stalwarts from our Saturday group, a psychiatrist in real life, and a damn good runner. (That's her at right approaching the top of Isaacs Ridge during a recent group run.) Freud and his couch still might have a place somewhere in modern psychiatry but Emma said that exercise plays an important role in therapy to treat depression these days.

This is hardly a surprise. As even Skippy and her joey would know (at left on Cooleman Ridge recently), running makes us feel good. That endorphin release and good honest sweat seems to reduce anxiety and create well being.

But I think intangibles come into play too. A run - any run - is a journey isn't? There's a start, a middle, and an end. While we often focus internally on our own thoughts during a run, the tug of the external is never far away. Whether its is the chat with a running buddy, or simply 'to finish', there's more to think about than just ourselves. Finishing any run is a challenge of sorts in itself.

And what price does one put on being at 'out there' at one with Nature, a great sunrise, and intoxicated with cold, crisp air and the 'sounds of silence'.

Life will give us plenty of mountains to run. But more often than not, as runners, we have the skills to confront those challenges...and win.

In short, to get more out of life we don't have to read Rhonda Byrne's The Secret and learn something slick marketing is trying to convince us is exclusive information when it's the bleeding obvious (and contribute to Byrne's handsome royalities at the same time). Nor do we need to watch re-runs of Mr Bean to feel good about this world.

For the real answers talk to Eddie who ran at PB at Canberra this year. Ask the inspirational Cirque about the tremendous gains she is making in her return to running. Speak to Tesso about the blinder she ran recently at the Gold Coast, or Aki and her own recent 5k PB and her health battles, or PLU, the Owl, Blkbox, Lucky Legs or a myriad of other wonderful runners and people who have come to overcome adversity and challenges through running.

Through running all of us have the capacity in ourself and with those who share the spirit to have fun. And fun I am going to have. So stuff negativity! Stuff you too Dr Freud and your couch!

Skippy knows the real secret. And I don't have to go to a book store and pay $25 for the 'privilege' of finding that out. So there!