Running Ruined My Relationship, Faith and Saved My Life
How Running Ruined my Relationship, Killed My Faith … and Saved My Life My high school girlfriend and I made a bet: she’d learn about my religion, Muslim, if I took up her religion, running. Neither of us was ready for what came next. T he day my doctor released me from in-patient psych, he said, “Allison, I’ll make you a deal. You can go home on the following conditions: 1) You will take Prozac, the high dose, and you won’t even think about getting off it for an entire year, and 2) You will make yourself run, every day, for at least 20 minutes. Because your life depends on it.” I agreed, and stood behind the Plexiglass window by the nursing station, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and a bin that held all the belongings I had been required to hand over the day I checked in: my wallet, my keys, phone and the laces from my running shoes. As I threaded my sneakers and prepared to keep my promise by jogging home to the apartment I shared with four