How I Went From Running Up The Path To Running A Half Marathon
You can apply this to anything you’re trying to do or learn for the first time!
I started running back when I lived in Reading, England in 2014, as I knew a few people who ran. However, the main reason I started running was when I watched the Commonwealth Games. There was a runner called Steve Way. I remember when the BBC interviewed him, he talked about how unhealthy he was before he started running. He smoked 20 cigarettes a day and his diet consisted of junk food. He knew he had to change. That’s when he started taking running seriously in 2007. At the time of writing, he is the holder of the British 100km record. I thought to myself if this guy can do it then surely I can start running too!
I thought I would see how I would do by just running up the path past a few houses. I was surprised by how much out of breath I would get just from running a short distance. But as it was my first time doing that, I thought next time I would be able to run a bit further. That’s why I like applying Kaizen, the Japanese concept of continuous growth, where you do one small thing each day and it gradually builds up over time.
I gradually ran further each day. Running further up the path to another lamp post. Then running halfway around the block. When I ran around the block for the first time I was exhausted. But I felt proud of myself after recovering from it. I made the mistake of forgetting to warm up once and you really feel the pain later that day and the next day. So, if you’re about to start running always remember to warm up!
I ran my first 5k run, the Reading Santa Run, in 2014. This was for charity, which gave me extra motivation. In 2015 I heard about Reading Parkrun, which I thought was a good idea, as you can run with other people. It was on every Saturday morning. So at least I could decide to go and do that once a week. However, there were occasionally some days I would make an excuse not to go. But I still tried to keep it up by running from home or somewhere else.
I ran a few more park runs until I decided to up my game and run my first 10k, which was the Royal Berkshire 10k. This was back in May 2015 at Green Park in Reading. This was more challenging for several reasons, not only because of the distance but because the heat made it really difficult. I was so grateful they had water stations for water bottles to help cool me down and stay hydrated!
I knew I had to keep running a bit further. So I looked into other places I could run 10k or more. I stumbled across Eton Dorney Lake, which was used for rowing during the 2012 London Olympics. Although it was windy and cold, it was a nice flat surface, which helped a bit!
My next challenge was to run the Reading half marathon. On the day, I was nervous and excited as this was the longest run I would have done so far. I suppose it helped that I was part of ‘Team Green Park’ and knew a couple of other people running that day as well. We decided to run and stick together, although some people moved ahead and some fell behind due to tiredness!
I remember feeling quite hot, out of breath and in pain. Luckily the half marathon was in March and not summer otherwise I would’ve struggled even more. When I approached Madejski Stadium (Reading Football Club’s ground), I saw a mixture of people dressed up. I felt sorry for the guy who was dressed up as the Incredible Hulk and had green paint and sweat coming off of him! However, although I was in so much pain, there was this strange feeling of knowing how close the finishing line was, which gave me some extra energy from somewhere. Probably just determination to finish it and finally stop and recover! When I finally crossed the line, I bent over with my hands on my knees. Like with pretty much everyone else who just finished and wanted to collapse. But then I managed to raise my arms in the air after I triumphed and collected my Reading half marathon medal!
The main thing I want people to take away from this is that it takes time to gradually get used to doing something for the first time. You have to make sure you’re patient with yourself. Don’t expect to be able to run a long distance straight away, otherwise, you might hurt or injure yourself.
Remember to always warm up & warm down with stretches. Otherwise, you can get cramps or strain a muscle. However, you might still get a bit of cramp with some aches and pains when you run further than you did before. Your body needs time to get used to it.
As well as being inspired by Steve Way back in 2014, in 2016 I was lucky enough to meet Sir Roger Bannister. For those who don’t know who Sir Roger Bannister was, he broke the record for running a mile in under 4 minutes in 1954. He did a talk at Reading Town Hall and he was signing his book Twin Tracks, which I managed to get him to sign for me.
This gave me an extra boost of inspiration before running the Reading half marathon. I hope you can meet someone who inspires you to run as well!
If you are thinking about challenging yourself to go running, I hope this helps to make it less daunting!
