Joan Markwell (middle) after the Pink Triathlon, a fundraising event to benefit breast cancer research. “My friend on my left fought breast cancer and beat it! YAY!”

Joan Markwell has found “a new love at 40,” as the Australian mum likes to put it. Follow her on her health and fitness blog and on Twitter here.

Well, who would have thought it but after all these years I think I have found a new love.

And before you feel sorry for Craig or wonder what young buck or old stud stole my heart, let me explain my new love is much more innocent, and much better for me than your imagination may predict.

Running!

Yep, running.

I am obsessed. My floor is gathering running magazines, my bookmark and internet history is getting clogged with running sites, my shoe rack is overflowing into the walk-in with runners of all shapes and sizes, my friends are getting bored to death and for the first time ever I felt jealous—yes, jealous—when I saw someone running the other day while I was stuck in the car doing school drop-offs!

As my old friend Lynn would say, “Good Lord, Joanie.”

When I’m not running, I’m doing something that will make me a better runner, like reading about it, doing leg strength workouts, core workouts … God help me, I even bought myself a “Running makes me happy” singlet for my birthday.

Things I love about running:

Convenient – You run out your door, whenever you see a break and you are gone.

Liberating – You run out your door, whenever you see a break and you are gone!

Meditative – it’s just you and your breath and one step at a time. From someone who has all kinds of trouble meditating but had numerous recommendations to take it up, this is about as close as I get. I love it. Some use music, which I have occasionally, but mostly I just like the quiet. Which brings me to the next thing I love…

Peace – Sighhhhh. It’s just you and whoever or whatever noise you would like to add or leave behind.

Sense of achievement – You don’t need to race anybody, only yourself. But you don’t need to do that either; just being out there doing it will be enough to give you a nice sense of achievement. You just need to do it to feel good. One run done is one run more than you did before. Besides, even if you are the slowest runner out there, you are still lapping your mate at home on the couch!

A sense of belonging – You are a runner. Repeat after me, “I am a runner.” It feels nice and other people respect you for that no matter your pace, distance or outfit. Just making the effort makes you part of the club.

Fun – This is something I never thought I would say, but there it is. The first three kilometers are never that fun—in fact, I have a fairly reliable inner dialogue to the sounds of “Errggghh, you just don’t have it in you today,” “Shit, this isn’t fun, maybe I need a day off, I can try tomorrow,” “I don’t like it anymore,”—but then something happens around the 3K mark and the body settles in, the mind starts noticing the breathing and I start to relax. It’s fun.

At her sister’s wedding with daughters Ella and Kate.

Positive role model to my girls – My beautiful, intelligent, funny and very girly girls are learning that their mummy is all of those things, too, as well as strong and fit and independent and values her health as well. They think I’m beautiful and they know that I am strong too. They know it’s cool to be both.

New goals – There is always a new challenge around the corner, whether it be a race you want to enter, a new run to try out or a new friend to run with. The challenges are only as limited as your imagination.

My smile – I love my end-of-run smile. After my mum was ripped from our lives, I must admit some days I have found it hard to truly smile. Now on a bad day I go for a run, and there it is, my smile again. This is a good thing to take home to my family.

Never use say the words, “I’m not a runner.” You may be. You may just not have found what you like about it yet.