Like most, I once considered a run lasting over 3 miles an impossibility. I had friends on my high school cross country team who complained about “Eighty-minute Mondays” which as you might guess meant that Monday practices consisted of a run lasting eighty minutes. For a long time I couldn’t even fathom how a human could keep their legs moving under them for over an hour. Though I’ve always strived to be fit and strong, I considered myself a strictly fast-twitch, or explosive athlete and in no way capable of endurance training.
Grueling road runs (https://www.yourphysioplan.com/2015/07/the-winding-road-back-to-running/)
Despite my unhopeful attitude, I occasionally forced myself outside for road runs when I had no sports practice to structure my workouts. Distance running was a chore I felt obligated to perform to keep healthy. I ran a 5 mile loop on a road in the nearby park, and practically dragged myself the last two miles to the finish. The runs felt draining for my muscles, difficult to endure mentally, and unenjoyable all around. This is obviously not the approach one would want to take to fall in love with a sport: to force oneself and to view the sport as an obligation.
Unsurprisingly, I fell out of that running habit pretty quickly. Running gave me no joy, so I found other activities to keep myself in shape. A few years later a friend recommended a book to me called “Born to Run.” I now view that book as the turning point in my mindset about running. I realized I had been going about the sport all wrong. To enjoy running and to get good at running, the key is to start slow and easy. Run when you want to, as far as you want to, and no harder than a comfortable pace.
With these new ideas in mind, I signed up for a half marathon to motivate me to improve. That first month of training had ups and downs. I ran mainly along roads in the heat of day, and I always had the looming half marathon forcing me to stick to the program. Though my training started off a bit off track, the race itself still sticks in my memory as one of my all-time favorite runs. The roads were winding and shaded and the course changed, creating interest.
The moment I decided to stop racing
Since then, racing has become too competitive for my liking so I stopped signing up for half’s. I now do nearly all my long runs on trails in the park with no goal of competition. The environment of running through woods is now a large part of why I love to run. I go out with no goal of speed, but a goal of enjoyment. When it gets hard, I slow down. When I feel great, I speed up and enjoy the sensation of wind and speed. I now understand how to run for me: in the woods, at my own pace, and for fun.
Now that’s where I want to run. (https://givemeahoorah.com/tag/trailrunning/)
I’ve just recently started to get into running and I love it! It’s such a stress reliever! I totally agree with the whole “run as far as you want and as fast as you want” approach. As soon as there’s competition, I start to lose interest and running becomes a chore, haha. Although I’ve considered training for a half marathon… maybe one day.
I really find it interesting on how your mind changed a couple of times. I can only run when I am competing with someone, so I think it’s interesting to get a different perspective on running. I also think it’s important to really find joy in the things that you do. I also really love that photo from the woods. I would like to start running for fun and more enjoyment, so I’ll definitely check out that book.
This was a great overall theme of starting new things. I can personally connect how trying new things initially start off, for me it was playing the drums and at first I hated it so much. I am naturally a quiet person so the whole nature of the loud and abruptness of the drums was everything I shied away from. I had weekly drum practices and I despised going to them so I stopped for a couple of weeks and eventually I found I missed the sound of the bass. I started to connect it with my love for poetry and saw the drums as the pattern to my pieces. This is an extremely insightful post!
Hi Emily! Upon looking at all of your blog posts, I was most attracted to this one because I used to be one of those “eighty minute Monday” people in high school. However, during my senior year, I experienced an injury that made me never want to run again. But upon coming to college, I started running again just like you said, slow and short, at the beginning of the semester. This then reminded me of how much I miss the sport and what a great way it is to stay in shape. If you ever want a running buddy on some days, let me know! 🙂