Fiona Bugler
Owner of The Running Inn, Eastbourne
Fiona followed a BA (hons) degree in Politics with a post-grad diploma and 12 year career in journalism, where she specialised in health and fitness writing and compiling workouts. She’s been a deputy editor and has written for national newspapers, websites, books and magazines, and has contributed to various TV and radio shows as a fitness specialist. With Mike Ovens, she is the co owner and director of the Running Inn in Eastbourne, specialising in running and fitness breaks.
Fiona was recently appointed editor of Running Free magazine.
Hear Julia interviewing Fiona and Mike from the Running Inn here.
Latest Entry
It’s cold outside…
20 October 09
And you don’t know what you’re missing if you keep your door shut!
I loved being outdoors when I was a child. I loved feeling warm in the cold as I ran about playing football, climbing trees, or playing commandos (yes, I was a tom-boy as a child!).
I remember being outside late at family gatherings and parties. I loved touching my rosy cheeks and feeling their clammy coldness, and, like all children, I was amazed as my breath made an imprint on the air – just like the smoke pouring out of the partying adults’ mouths, whose shadowy shapes I could make out through the steamed up windows. When the dark came it was more exciting. You couldn’t see the ball, and you weren’t sure as you reached up higher if that was a branch or a twig (we had more freedom in those days).
Cold, fresh, free and clear… that’s the feeling I remember, and still get to this day, when I’m outside being active.
It’s so easy to slumber into a sleepy hibernation as we get older – both physically and emotionally. For most adults there’s not many good reasons to get out into the cold, fresh air – less so the wind, rain, hail or snow… Habits get ingrained, the cosier it gets the harder it is to get out there! And why should you change…?
We live in a country where seasons change, and historically we would have been outside whether we liked it or not – walking to our place of work, hanging out washing, foraging! Our immune systems are said to require a boost of fresh air, and then there’s Vitamin D – found in winter and summer sunshine. Waking up physically can wake you up emotionally and help shake you out of patterns and habits that may not be helping you – to be you!
Human beings are conveniently caged, in houses and offices. Our activity wheel is the TV or computer – keeps us amused for hours. And psychologically we cage ourselves up, with habits: bad eating, drinking a little bit too much, making do in relationships, jobs, houses.
It’s good to get out of your cage. We’ve recently acquired two chinchillas – and their large cage. They hail from the mountains in Peru, in their natural habitat Chinchillas leap out mountains and like the cold. Now they live in a bedroom in Eastbourne!
They love to get out. In fact it’s a compulsory part of the deal – they must be allowed to run around the bedroom for at least an hour a night (and we must spend 10 minutes trying to catch them to get them back in the cage at the end of their playtime!)
My two furry friends would become ill if I didn’t let them out. They would be sluggish and wouldn’t like to be handled. They’d get depressed – and die!
What’s caging you in? It might be warm, cosy and comfortable in there – but do you need to get out? åYou might not even know what your cage looks like from the outside – but until you open the door and get out you won’t know.
Open the front door and step out into the cold and you might open more in you than you could have ever imagined – so go on, take the plunge!
