I hate running

Running. For as long as I can remember, I have hated running. I hate the thought of it, and I hate the doing of it. I recall doing some jogging when I was 14-15 years old, as part of my track training. But I didn’t like it then, and I never went jogging without a friend. Ironically, guess what one of my best sports was? Yup, running. BUT running the 100 meters. Anything further than that just turned me off.

This week a colleague at work mentioned she has also always hated running, so her approach was to now think of it as a challenge: something you don’t like and is difficult for you. Therefore qualifies as a challenge. Well that was a new angle of thought for me!!! I actually loath it a bit, that she made me think about it that way, because I would rather not have found a reason to try running.

But here we go. Yesterday I went to the gym to try a download called ‘Treadmill Training’. The concept of it was interesting enough for me to want to try it: EASY PAINLESS RUNNING with a professional trainer talking to you all the way through it. And guess what? It WAS.

I’m amazed how I enjoyed it. Well, that’s a strong word, but I didn’t want to stop, and I didn’t hate it whilst I was doing it. The training program I bought online was totally aimed at beginners, which I am. And at people who are out of shape, which I am, badly. And it’s interval training, alternating walking and running, which made it interesting and I wasn’t thinking about how much longer do I have to be doing this. But the best bit was the trainer guy talking almost all through the 35 minutes. You just listen to him and do it.

I’m sure there’s lots of free stuff you could download, but if anyone wants to check out what I’ve got, go to this site. I know I’m going to go back to the treadmill this week. Wow. Just hearing myself say that :)

And what are my reasons for doing the running now? Well, there’s the guilt for the fact that I haven’t really been doing any exercise in the over 5 weeks that I’ve been back in abstinence. Yes yes, I did start walking, and apart from the past 2 weekends I’ve been doing rather well. But I’m yearning, or my body is yearning some proper exercise, as it always does after a while of not getting any, and for some reason I haven’t managed to go to any classes though the gym is just 4 minutes away… And the thought of ‘just going running’ is still very repulsive to me.

Another reason is that I am getting thinner again, and all the loose skin is starting to gather up, and I realise there is no way around it but making an effort to tone it. Now running won’t tone my stupid chicken wings, of course, but it should shock my core muscles into better shape, AND I’m hoping it will give me incentive to maybe start doing a bit of toning after the run, at some point.

And so one night a couple of weeks ago (yes, that’s the lag between step 1, preparation, and step 2, actually getting started) I surfed for inspiration for beginner runners. And here we are. I mean I did 35 minutes! It’s NOTHING. But it’s a big step. I know the next time, hopefully tonight or maybe tomorrow, will be yet another challenge, especially the bit about getting my ass to the gym. But the download worked for me today, and I hope it keeps working, so that maybe by end of February I will have downloaded the next part of the program….