Something very strange has happened recently. If anybody who knows me in real life is reading this I would advise you to take a seat now.
I have taken up running. For those of you who don't know much about me, let me paint you a little picture. I have given up on every form of exercise I've ever tried, and I've tried quite a few over the years; gymnastics, tennis, swimming, horse-riding, trampolining... I was 'that' person in P.E. lessons who faked asthma attacks or refused to even begin to run when we were supposed to do 1500m. Since starting uni, I've made a few attempts at Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. My most recent try over last summer actually went pretty well but then I went back to uni and fell off the bandwagon as I didn't want my bouncing around to be the sole reason my (rather worringly) cracked-walled house fell down. Also it's a bit depressing when the girls in the background are smiling away having the time of their lives while you're sweating away thinking you might be about to take your last breath.
During last term something changed; I decided that it was time for me to do something about my pathetic level of fitness. The idea of going to the gym genuinely makes me feel ill, regardless of how expensive it can be, so I ruled that out. I always found it difficult to motivate myself to do the shred at home. Then somehow I stumbled across the idea of running. My older sister is pretty similar to me in that she's also never been one for much exercise but she starting running last year and now runs over 5k three times a week. Sibling rivalry kicked in and I thought if she can do it, surely I can too.
I've only been doing this a couple of weeks so by no means am I anything more than a complete beginner at this point, but I have to say I actually don't hate running. I've been using the NHS couch to 5k app which I've found very helpful; there are 9 weeks of the programme and 3 runs each week. The first week is very basic (I imagine laughably so to those of you who have been running for a while) as you run for 60 seconds then walk for 90 seconds then repeat that 8 times. Each week gets a bit harder- I've just done the second run of week 2 which involves repetitions of 90 seconds of running and 2 minutes of walking. Whilst I have no future intention of going all 'Forrest Gump' and running for 3 years non-stop (the thought of 15 minutes non-stop worries me to be perfectly honest), I feel pretty happy to have picked up a new habit and fairly confident that I can keep it up.
I might add a little update as to how I'm getting on with running every so often- perhaps I can inspire someone else to give it a go. Who knows, maybe next year I'll be running the London marathon! Now, where's that easter egg got to...
Do you run? Any words of encouragement for beginners?
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