• “I can’t run”
  • “I don’t run”
  • “Running is something I could never enjoy”
  • “I don’t see the point of running”

These are all things I have said, many times. I thought these statements were true, and to me, at a point in time, they have all been true.

At school, I hated PE. Pretty much everything about it, I hated the changing rooms, I dreaded any game where I had to catch a ball (poor hand eye co-ordination and being short sighted resulted in almost certain failure), I remember feeling sick half way round a cross country run (the few occasions I took part before working out a plan for total avoidance). As soon as I could stop I did and never went back. Horse riding and looking after horses has been my “exercise” – never running – that was always avoided.

With very few exceptions, I probably had never run any sort of distance until the age of about 45. Around my 45th birthday I decided to lose some weight and to get fitter, so followed an advert for a local trainer who was running some exercise groups. This involved a supportive group of women, a great trainer and was held in a golf range. There was a variety of exercises, weights, skipping (something else I never thought I would be able to do) and a little bit of running – just short distances. I lost weight, got into exercising consistently and then, in January 2020 I started the couch to 5K. After 9 weeks, I finished it and did my first Park Run. Shortly after, we went into lockdown and running started to bring yet more benefits.

Running and Limiting Beliefs

Running has taught me that just because we think we can’t do something, it doesn’t mean we never will. I am not a fast runner, but I have found I can actually run reasonably well. I can see that we can probably do many of the things we tell ourselves we can’t. Looking back now at all of the voices telling me I would never be a runner – probably most of them mine, all I needed was a plan, a way to break it down into manageable chunks and to find a place to start. Ultimately, I just needed to believe.

Running and Having a Plan

Couch to 5K is a brilliant plan. It breaks down your introduction to running into manageable sessions, starting with just running for 60 seconds and then resting – before repeating. It is just 30 minutes too, including warm up and cool down. The commentary is encouraging and you always know when you are half way through. This builds up over the course of weeks, one week you run for 20 minutes without a break – this is the first time I felt like a runner. Eventually you run for 30 minutes, at first, this didn’t quite cover 5K, so I and then I built up the running time until I ran 5K. Soon I chieved 5K within 30 minutes.

Running and Values

Wellness is one of my core values, and running reinforces this, improving my physical fitness (as well as weight, improved cardio vascular fitness is a bonus). More notably, however, is the “headspace” running provides. The feeling after a run is amazing – stressbusting at its best. Connection is another of my values, and whilst connection with people takes up a lot of my days, running is all about time with my dogs and my connection with them. I also enjoy running with people too.

Running and Goals

I have also learned a lot about goal setting. My first goal was to run 5k. This was a good goal for me, realistic, measurable and really got me into running. Then I worked out a plan to increase to 10k, again, positive in that longer runs provide good thinking space for me, a time to really relax. The dogs also prefer this level of exercise.

For a time, I got quite caught up in wanting to run faster, I realise now, that it is important to check in with your goals. I had decided I wanted to run a faster mins per KM speed. I started some training on this, but after some time I was feeling frustrated and had avoided some runs. I had also picked up a couple of aches and pains in my knees. I realised that it was about my times, and I gave it some thought – why do I run? For fitness and wellness. I realised that speed isn’t such a benefit for this – but consistency and remaining injury free was. I also realised that I had fallen into a bit of a trap with Strava, which is good for keeping track, but had led me into “comparisonitis”. Other Strava contacts were running faster than me, I needed to give this some thought. Should I keep using Strava? I decided I should as I like to look back at the records. I also like the community – and as long as I am aware to keep the comparisons at bay, this is a benefit.

If my goals were to win races, be the fastest for my age group, it would be different. But knowing that my reasons for running are to keep fit, to enjoy the physical and mental benefits as well as to exercise the dogs, I decided that running 3 times per week – even if just a short run, was a better goal for me. Consistency and commitment are important to me.

Running and Resilience

Will I ever take that next step and test my stamina and resilience by trying an ultra or marathon? At this stage I don’t know – my goal is to keep running as part of my wellness – physical and emotional and resilience fits here.

Resilience will be my next topic.

What do you think? Any barriers you have overcome? Are you a runner?

Ever achieved something you thought was well outside your range?

I’d love to hear.