"Running is awesome", or, "How I learned to stop worrying and find an app for that"

Why would you even want to run?

It took a looong time for me to start really enjoying running. I was not a fan of sports classes at school. Running always felt horrible and no one ever really explained why I should ever want to do it. I assumed the only reason people did it was because they either wanted to lose weight, or they had a goal that they wanted to be able to run fast some day for some bizarre reason.. maybe to compete in races?

I had a gym membership for a few months when I joined with my best friend during my uni days (around nine years ago). I kinda liked the weights machines, and went on the treadmills because.. well... they were there.. but I thought didn't have any real reason to keep doing it (I'm a fairly thin guy and have never had any extra-weight issues). Before long, my friend left the gym so I barely went and I eventually cancelled my membership. 

We live in an amazing digital age!

Around four years ago, I tried running every now and again, but it was only once every month or so and I could barely run longer than a minute or two before being completely exhausted! Fast forward a year and I moved in with my girlfriend. It was around this time where I was faffing about on the internet, feeling very unmotivated (as usual at the time), and some person had written an interesting comment (probably on reddit) about Couch-to-5k programs. I looked into it, found that there was "an app for that", and basically thought, hell, it's free and I've got some time to burn, why not just give it a go? (I had previously picked up some basic German language skills on my long train commutes just because there was a free "app for that" and that was interesting and fun!)

So, I did the Couch to 5k program and LOVED seeing the progress. Doing this three times a week for a few weeks and I started actually running for decent amounts of time without feeling like I was going to vomit and pass out! (Well, except for that one time). 

A valuable life lesson

A few months later and I eventually had 5k under my belt! It's really that simple. I didn't realise how quickly I could see results if I did this three times a week! A few years later, I would come to really understand how consistent routines can achieve results. In fact, except for a few edge-cases, most people can achieve amazing results and skills just by setting up a routine and plan for working on something! I'll expand on this soon.

But still, why?

I enjoy running because I've come to learn it's not impossible and it's relaxing. If you run somewhere where there's not a lot of traffic, the regularity of a 5k run at a constant pace without stopping lets you focus on your breathing, and I feel it almost gets you into a meditative state. For two years of running, I generally only ran with music playing, which was very enjoyable, but now for most of my runs, I'm listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Learning while staying fit!

Multitasking win!

Coming up in this series I'll explain how I stopped running regularly because life "got in the way", then got back into it, more than ever!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!