Abby, Natalia and Hattie find their centre of gravity
Perhaps choosing to go for a chi running lesson with the healthy writers on the hottest, sweatiest evening of the year was not the smartest idea I’d ever had, but choose it I did. My instructions for a session with Gray read like a good spy movie: ‘Meet me at 6.45pm in Finsbury Park outside the café, by the large duck pond.’ I half wondered if he’d turn up wearing a red carnation (sadly not). Chi running – a kind of tai chi meets jogging – promises to make the experience easier and more enjoyable, using movement principles to increase your energy efficiency, cut your risk of injury and boost performance; I’ll take it! As a former triathlete and coastal trail runner, I’d given up after being plagued by IT band problems and shin splints.
Gray reassures me he has the answer. The class is mainly theory, with a few drills peppered across it to make sure everything we’ve been told has sunk in.