I DIDN'T DIE

[BirdyRose]

My second run arrived a bit quick. I actually was nervous because I've had anxiety recently I even had dreams about the run last night. The solution I'm coming up with for this is to use a couple of meditation techniques whilst I'm running. "Noting" where you don't dive into your thoughts you just label them and move on: "thought" "feeling" "thought" "feeling" seems to have worked for me. Rather than thinking "What if..." and then coming up with all the worst scenarios of what could happen to me in the next 10 seconds: Slip on a banana skin or crisp wrapper, twist my ankle, fall into a manhole and die, get chased and mauled to death by a cute dog and die, become delirious with adrenaline, lose my ability to see, run into a lamppost and die... Etc. That's just an example of how my mind works.

Part of my challenge is not just to get physically fit and make my heart stronger... But also to rewire the way my mind works on relation to my anxiety surrounding exercise.

Also, music is important isn't it?

I found that Jamie T's albums are great to run to. A little bit of rap a little bit of heavy guitar and bass, a little bit of swearing.

I felt like a "badass" by the end of it.

[Pennycat]

Well done, you 😄👏🏻

[misswobble Graduate]

This programme is FUN 😃. It is! You’re gonna love 💕 it ! The trick is, and here’s the thing, there’s no trick at all, you just go ever so slowly 🤷‍♀️ That’s it. End of 😃👍

Slowly working diligently through the sessions is good and you’ll feel epic. No pressure or need to push at all. the only thing is to complete each session and move on to the next

I would listen to the voice coach as you get regular tips and advice, which you could do with listening to 🙂. I channel music into one ear’ole using the mono setting on the phone so I can keep an ear free to listen to what’s happening around me I love drum and bass. When your hear drums you got trouble 😁

Enjoy yourself. Let us know how you get on 😃

[BirdyRose in reply to misswobble]

Hey there! I do listen to the app, my music quietens down when the speaker is back to tell me when to run and that, I've got that northern woman which is a bit strange because when she says "GO" I keep thinking she's said "Oooh!" then it takes me a second to realise she meant GO! 😂

[BirdyRose in reply to misswobble]

PS. I think my running is slower than my brisk walk.

[misswobble Graduate in reply to BirdyRose]

It’s ok honestly. No worries at all

[Jay66UK Graduate]

Hey. I had terrible anxiety when I started the programme and running has really helped me with that. I’ve used the noting technique and it works really well.

I just wanted to say well done for getting out there the second time and encourage you to keep at it - the anxiety-calming benefits for me have been huge, as have the confidence-building ones.

You will encounter gremlins along the way and the noting techinique works really well with them. Brain says “you can’t do this, stop” and you come back with “ah, gremlins”, note and ignore it!

Enjoy your next run x

[Mercmancouchto5k Graduate]

I love your post BirdyRose. Thank you for being so open. I was feeling like I was going over this in my mind far too often during the day and night. I opted for a Calm subscription (the first thing I have ever purchased called an App ( ) after 25 years of using a mobile phone. Tee hee hee. Stick with it, and we all have your back on here. Great forum

[Fipeake]

Love this, so true and relatable! I’m doing run 3 of week 2 this evening, and I often have similar thoughts where my brain goes off on one. Most recently I ran without my glasses (blind as a bat!) and due to the dark evenings and lack of sight I thought a bush was a man and proceeded to run much faster than my lung capacity could cope with because I thought someone was following me to murder me.. it was a bush. The reality is never as bad as your mind thinks. Also when I am driving and see someone running I only EVER quietly cheer them on and thinking like that when I’m the one running makes me feel better about others seeing me run