ON BEING A RUNNER

Once upon a time, at the start of the summer, I decided to set myself a challenge and train myself to run for 30 minutes without... ahem, dying. I did well until a couple weeks before heading to New York, in July, when my knee started hurting. Then I got back and I was fine, but my motivation wasn't. This is how a seesaw of super athletic / coach potatoes weeks started.


Last week, finally, after almost 4 months I managed to complete my 30 min run, and I've never felt prouder.

Now, first off, I know you'll probably laughing at me because 30 minutes is not much, so this means that you're either
a) super trained, which is good for you and I'm jealous of, but it takes time to get where you are, so please just give me some;
b) thinking about a super slow, basically walking, run. Well, my friend, this is not the case. I'm talking about proper run, which for its own definition means that your feet should never touch the ground together, and I can tell ya, 30 minutes is a lot.

Anyway, I did it, and I'm happy. There's so many things that I love about running: I love that it doesn't take too much time and that you can literally put your shoes on and hit the road anytime and anywhere you feel like it. I love how you improve so quickly and effectively (when I started I was out of breath after 1 minute of running, 1 minute). I love how, even if it's always the same it can also be always different: all you need to do is change the playlist, the path, the time.

I've always loved walking but always thought that running wasn't for me. The truth is, I would just go and try and run for 5k, without caring about my breath or my pace or anything. Through this 'journey' I've learnt so much about my body, starting from the fact that if I feel my spleen hurting I don't need to stop, but simply to control my breathing, to knowing that I can do it, I can push through, even when I think I can't.

I have trained following the Runner's World 8 Weeks Beginner's Program, which I have found very well made and something anyone can do, as long as you keep it up. With running you need constance, and I had to repeat whole weeks of training after periods of doing nothing. I'm thinking about doing a post about what to do if you want to start running (so watch this space if you're interested), but I just wanted to talk briefly about what I like about it, and, let's face it, also bragging a bit about my accomplishment.

Right now I want to work on my resistance and speed before trying and run for more time. I need to upgrade my iOs so I can download my favorite app to keep trace of my progress and also making every run more effective. I also want so badly to take a run in the woods. I don't know why but I'm really craving it.

Again, I know it may not be so much to some of you, but for me, it's a huge deal. Six months ago I would have been gasping and fumbling through a couple minutes of running and now I'm here thinking about perfecting my 30, calling myself a runner.