I was a proud runner – my family’s comments stopped me in my tracks

I first began long distance running a few years ago (Picture: Dahaba Ali Hussen)

‘I ran 18 kilometres today’, I said proudly to a family member one summer’s day, when she asked how I was.

She replied, ‘Great, but stay out of the sun. You don’t want to get too dark.’

I would like to say this shocked me – but this isn’t the first time I have heard these sorts of comments from my family, especially in the summertime.

I first began long distance running a few years ago. It was the start of the pa...