That’s tonight’s philosophical question.....I’d never enjoyed running at school......grew up in the Lake District and everything you did involved a hill...walking, cycling, running.....always a hill, unavoidable. I hated it. I couldn’t do it no matter how hard I got shouted at. Fast forward a lot of years and it nagged at me....why couldn’t I get my breathing right and run? I dared to share this thought with my better half....one of those sporty types, effortless cycles, runs, annoying!! And do you know what he said......I’ll teach you! This was revolutionary to me....literally changed my life. Teach me? Like you’re not suppose to just be able to do it?! And there began a journey that took me to couch to 5k and into this wonderful world with you guys.
A big cheerleader in my running journey has been a chap in my team at work...the very first person I let into my dark secret....that I was attempting to be a runner! He consistently tells me off when I compare my time to anyone’s or I say oh rubbish run, slower than ever! That article struck a chord.
Happy Sunday everyone of you lovely people that keep me going with your stories and your positivity. 😊
Written by
Sparkey5000
60minGraduate
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I run because it has such huge health benefits. I was a couch potato through my late 20’s and 30’s. was having too much of a good time. Gained too much weight and let myself go.
3 years ago I did C25K after several failed attempts and have kept going ever since. Last year I really concentrated on turning my life around. I lost 2.5 stone and also lost 10 minutes off my parkrun finish times. I run because it makes me feel good, inside and outside. I run because it’s a great personal challenge. I run because of parkrun. Enjoy your running journey.
A great post Sparkey5000, and thanks for the interesting link; another book to add to the wish list. I am currently on the IC following a ski accident so my last run was parkrun on 22 February. I am so missing it. I walk for my daily exercise, while I can, and look at all the runners thinking I am one of you and now more than ever, I should be running. I only started 2 years ago, age 60, but it’s so good for body and soul. I’m a parkrun junkie, and miss the comradeship that brings every Saturday morning. I miss the high after every run. I miss checking out the stats on my Garmin. But I will be back, because I am a runner.
I run because I love it (not always at the time!). It has a massive positive impact on my stress levels and I am proud of myself. I run because it means that I can eat the food that I love without getting fat and I like the shape of my running self. I run because I want to be a role model for my children. I run so that I can bore the pants off family and friends
Hello Sparkey5000, I started running because I wanted to find an exercise that I would like as I found the gym boring.
I was very unhappy with my weight gain after stopping smoking and felt embarrassed when out .
I loved seeing people run when I was out with the dog or in the car .
So I found c25k and I had lots of doubts that I could actually do it.
The c25k plan is great but if I'm honest this forum is definitely what kept me going.
So 18 months later I'm still running and have lost almost all the weight and I feel great and what I have noticed is that it gives me so much positivity .
One other thing , I used to also compare myself to other runners now I don't. Just love to say , I can run.
I don't know why I started, just a challenge I suppose. It is simplicity, just to run. It has made me more or less fearless! I love it and hope it's in my life into old age.
I started because, in my 70s and with an older OH, I suddenly realised my always-active life was beginning to slip away. I keep going because of the flexibility, the fun, this forum and because of the headspace I have (very unexpectedly) found comes with running. Can’t imagine life without running now - I hope I never have to! A big cheer for runners of all kinds, everywhere, but especially all of you in this community. 🎉💕🎉
Lovely question Sparkey. How nice to hear about your supportive other half and colleague. I read Lisa Jackson’s Your Pace or Mine? last year, might even have written a review on here... it was really refreshing to read. Most books about running are written by and about speedy gazelles. Lisa has come last in over twenty marathons! Yet continues to feel the joy of running them, which is a lesson to us all. I guess we get a taste of that when we have been on the IC. It isn’t fretting over times that we miss; it’s the being out there, doing it.
So why do I run? I have always been quite sporty. Climbing is my passion. All the sports I have done involve short bursts of strength and agility. I’m strong, recover quickly - but my endurance isn’t great. I smoked for years and years and I guess I avoided doing anything that taxed my lungs too badly.
Running is one of the hardest things I have done. It does not come naturally at all. I felt like a lumbering oaf when I started, struggling to run for a minute. I look fairly fit, but I am not running fit, and felt embarrassed to be so slow. The mental barriers were as hard to overcome as the physical ones. This forum was so supportive but I do remember someone saying ‘it’s just running, it shouldn’t be that hard’ and feeling really deflated. I did find it that hard. It took a long time (and it’s ongoing) to learn how to pace myself, how to not panic when the breathing gets ragged. The fact I can now run for 5k and further still seems amazing, somehow. It’s an achievement I am proud of, so long as I don’t compare! I am beginning to feel great whilst running, and I always feel great afterwards. Learning to truly appreciate, enjoy and persevere at something I have no talent for feels valuable.
For me the question is Why didn’t I run earlier in my life? For many of us who were discouraged by harsh PE teachers or others, made us just think we couldn’t do it!
Running gives us many gifts & the most important one is regaining confidence in ourselves & learning not to care too much what others think about us.
This encouraging wonderful forum & people like your better half & work colleague is a special part of the reason why we run, but the main reason is because we can!!! 🏃♀️ 🏃♂️ 🏃♀️
A mixture of getting out in the fresh air, being fitter and the challenge. I don’t think I ever find a run easy. I get quite a low mood through winter but I’ve not had it as bad this year and I really think getting out no matter the weather has helped.
I originally started running as I thought it would be a quick fix to loose weight having been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It took me 3 weeks to complete all of the runs on week 1 of C25K. Having lost weight, beaten the diabetes into remission I'm still running. I love being outdoors and running makes me feel in control of my health and wellbeing. I don't contribute here very often but when I do it's so supportive and I feel as if I know some of you 😁
I'd already lost weight before I started running. I'd been wearing a Fitbit and realised I wasn't getting my heart rate into the peak zone often enough, even though I walk miles every day. That, and some personal stuff that I needed to manage, made me look for a new outlet.
Once I got started, there was no stopping me.
I love the feeling that my body will still respond when I push it, even though I'm almost 60.
I love it when I run past people and they realise a grey haired woman, who should know better has just burned them (while respectfully social distancing, of course).
I love the feeling of wellbeing for the rest of the day when I get home.
Lisa Jackson’s journey is quite amazing: the coming last in multiple marathons is one thing but she is no slouch - 3 lots of Comrade Marathons!!! Blimey! Has she got to her 100th marathon yet or has Coronavirus got in the way?
So Sparkey, my reason for running? Lots really. Started out to help youngest kitten keep running, then I started losing weight and then I discovered this forum and then I discovered parkrun and then I started making lots of runny friends and then there’s the bling, the self confidence, the wonderful encouragement we all give each other, and that amazing, incredible feeling of achievement and the buzz of the endorphins and the bling (oops, said that!), and that feeling at parkrun when you sail past someone twice your size, when you’ve helped your family get fitter and when you meet up with your VRBs and...and...and...well there’s just so much, and all in 2 years!
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