What we talk about when we run

I’ve had the same running partner for years now. We run together twice a week, up hills, through woods, on roads, on rainy days and sunny days.

 It's like running therapy really.

So this is the one conversation we’ve been having for two hours a week, for years and years and years:

She tells me about her diets.

And I tell her that diets don’t work
That she shouldn’t eat in the car
That she should cook good food properly and take pleasure in eating it with family and friends
That she should eat sitting down with a plate
That she shouldn’t miss meals
That she shouldn’t say mean things about her body


Yesterday, we ran past a pretty young woman who was walking her dog.  The dog was small and fluffy and the woman was very, very plump.
While panting up the hill, I asked my running partner how she thought the woman with the dog got to be so round.

 She told me she believes it’s because the woman eats the skin on her chicken, that she cooks with oil and that she doesn’t diet.

Now while I know for sure that dieting makes you fat, that cooking and eating normally is the only way to love your body, what I realize I don’t have the foggiest idea about is how to change a person’s mind.

On tomorrow’s run, it's my turn on the couch.
I’ll tell you how it works out.

Meantime, here’s the gazpacho I've been making

Blitz together some nice ripe tomatoes
One red pepper
Half a cucumber
And half a teaspoon of crushed garlic
Put it is a tall jug
And add three cups of tomato juice
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika
Chill