Woman Who Runs 'to Escape the News' Hasn't Stopped Since Last Wednesday
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For Leia Fisher, running has always been a way to tune out what she calls "all the crazy in the world," at least temporarily.
"Running is how I cope with difficult stuff," she said in a recent interview as she ran through her middle-class neighborhood in Sacramento, California. "It's my therapy."
In today's 24/7 news cycle, she said, it's also the only time she's able "to completely escape the news" and forget, for a while, things like war, natural disasters, political tension, and other unpleasant realities.
Given the events of the past week or so, this has created a problem: Fisher has now been running nonstop since last Wednesday afternoon.
"I headed out for a run around 2 p.m. that day," she said, "after reading about the Guam thing."
“After one look at Twitter I turned right around and got back to running.”
Fisher was referring to threats by North Korea to launch nuclear-armed missiles at the U.S. territory of Guam, heightening an already-tense war of words between that nation's leadership and U.S. President Donald Trump.
"This was the day after the 'fire and fury' remarks," she said, "and I was just, like, you know what? F*** this. I'm going for a run."
She returned about 40 minutes later, she said, and "after one look at Twitter ... turned right around and got back to running."
Seven days later, she's still at it—and exhausted. Fisher estimates she's run approximately 540 miles since she started. (Her Garmin's battery died sometime Saturday.) And for the 31-year-old marketing consultant, there's no end in sight.
"On Friday, I paused and it looked like things were back to normal," she said, "Relatively speaking, at least. Just as I'm about to grab a drink and collapse on the couch, what comes on the TV? Charlottesville."
"Back out I went."
Fisher said her pace has slowed, but she's determined to keep going as long as it takes to outlast a seemingly never-ending stream of awful news.
"I'm utterly wiped out," she said, "exhausted, drained, near tears, my feet are bloody and raw."
"Still," she added, "it beats watching the news."
