What I learned from a year of running
On February 16th, 2015 I started running.
Not Cross-continent, Forrest-Gump kinda running. Just your average, 3-times-a-week jogging thing. You know, that run-walk-limp-run you do when you’re a beginner.
It wasn’t the first time I attempted to pick up that habit. About a year earlier I finished a 60 day DVD fitness program called Insanity, aimed at losing weight fast. Really fast. I lost 18 kg (40 lbs) in those two months and got to my lowest weight since my army days, 85 kg (187 lbs). I grew stronger and fitter than I’ve been for years and for the first time ever, I completed a 5k run without stopping to walk in the middle.
I then switched to a job 40 km away from home, designing for a digital ad agency with all the crazy hours jobs like this require and over the next 9 months - slowly, but surely - gained back every single pound I’ve lost.
I still ran on the weekends but the motivation wasn’t as before and I gave up on it soon enough.
“All is lost” you might say. Not really…
There is one thing that wasn’t lost completely. Something a person who went through sixty days of hard interval training right off the couch remembers very well. That thing is stamina
Stamina, in my experience, is not just physical endurance. The core of it is psychological and that means lessons learned the hard way stay with you longer than others.
Nothing is more frightening to a couch potato than the thought of exerting one-self. You have no problem bashing in the heads of carnivorous cordyceps on your PS3, but putting on some sweat pants and walking for 30 minutes? That’s some scary shit.
But I wasn’t scared anymore. I’ve been through that tunnel and came out the other end carved out of wood and that was almost a year in the past now. The wood has already rotten away and covered in fat again but the lesson was still buried in there and all I had to do was decide to apply it again.
So that’s what I did on Feb 16th, 2015.
The first month was hard, but not harder than expected. My muscles still remembered what exercise felt like and tracking my metrics with Runkeeper gave me knowledge of all those baby-step achievements I would've been otherwise oblivious to: Pace, distance, elevation. All these values were slowly getting faster, longer, higher.
I had no trainer or jogging partner and I didn’t really think about reading material on running (now that I do, I know I’m kinda lucky I didn’t injure myself in those early days). I just kept on keeping on.
Weeks and months went by and I stuck to my 3-days-a-week schedule. My body became accustomed to the motion and I learned how to breath into my stomach and in sync with steps so I didn’t have stitches in my sides anymore.
I began dropping pounds every week. The thing about diets is, they’re mentally hard to stick to without exercising because there isn’t really any support system. Physical exercise is the backbone of a good diet. Also for quitting smoking or dropping your beer consumption or any other physical bad habit.
I also quit my shit job at the ad agency and got a job designing for a small startup.
45 days in, my jogs became runs. I ran my first 10k! It took me 1 hr. and 4 min. and was a huge mile-stone for me.
3 months later I ran more than 17k in a run.
On August 29 I completed my first half-marathon. It wasn’t in a competition (I’ve never joined any). I just felt that I was ready and decided to go for it. I was by myself, I didn’t carry enough water or food supplements and by the time I finished my feet hurt so bad I could barely walk but I had on my face was what you might call a “big shit-eating grin”. I since ran another one, also alone.
I also noticed I’m becoming less stressful and more calm at work and at home. Running helps clear my thoughts and prepare me for the day ahead. It’s almost like meditating. As I don’t run with music, I pretty much concentrate on my breathing and pace. In summer time I wake up at 5:00am and run with the sunrise in almost empty streets. On Saturdays I usually run longer and go out to the fields around town where I see other runners. It’s great to see others who woke up early for the same reason you did.
As winter slowly came in, I also learned another important thing: It’s ok to let go a little. Ease back and take a day or two off with no guilty feelings. Sure, that shouldn’t be the day you decide to pile on two whoppers and a family pizza, but taking a break is important and helps the body recuperate.
I even got back to doing some of those Insanity DVDs again, especially on really rainy days when the last thing you want is to go out on a soggy run. Mind you, though, I do sometimes run in the rain, and it’s fucking awesome!
The difference between a jogger and a runner (or so I heard) is that a runner completes a 10k run in under 60 minutes. That’s pretty much where I’m at now and I got there completely by myself and with no injury. I always listen to my body and rarely push it over its limits for no reason. Most pains are from the exercise anyway and those are always good pains.
It’s really amazing to me that I came to love something I hated for most of my life. Not just running but exercise in general. I can run for 90 minutes or do a 45 minute, high-intensity aerobic routine and the change I feel in myself looking back on my life before this is… inspirational to me. It keeps me moving forward and helps me channel my efforts in productive ways in all aspects of life.
But the best feeling is that I’ve ditched The Lazy. It was a hard thing to do, maybe the hardest of anything I’ve ever done, but I came out with a lesson learned, one I probably should’ve learned a long time ago, but better late than never.
