Good morning!
Anyone who is new here won’t know that something massively changed in my life during Lockdown 1:
I started running!
If you’re interested in my running journey, you might wanna check out these blog posts:
A quick overview if you are new around these parts: I was never a runner; Inever imagined I’d become a runner; it was always something I saw as an exercise for the super fit and healthy (which I never deemed myself as); it was something for the OTHERS in the world… but I decided to take on Couch to 5k… and SUCCEEDED. It was hard; it sucked a lot of the time, but I powered on through it.
Now… 9 (and a bit) months later… I am still running.
‘Why do you continue to celebrate this?’ I might hear you ask…
Well, quite simply because I’m bloody proud of myself. I’m proud that my body hasn’t yet given up on me. I’m proud that I still have the motivation to do it. I’m proud that I’m ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO RUNS FOR FUN.
I NEVER ever saw myself as a runner. It was not something I associated with me. It was an identity that I thought could never be mine, and now that it is, I’m really bloody pleased!
The past weeks have been REALLY FRUSTRATING because there’s not been the weather for running (snowy and icy) and even as I sit here writing this blog post, it is snowing. Never did I imagine that I would be a person that gets frustrated about not being able to exercise, but this is who I am now. Running has become this like solace for me. It’s 20 mins – 90 mins (depending on how my legs’lungs are feeling) where all I need to concentrate on is moving my legs and remembering to breathe. It’s a time where I can just unfurl and untangle some of the thoughts in my head and I can figure some things out. My runs have become a time for me to sort things out if I need to (plus this saves me doing at bed time!)
(A question for serious runners out there… how long does it take to suss out breathing? Cause I definitely haven’t sussed that one out yet ha!)
“Learning” to run in Lockdown 1 was a blessing… but it was also a REALLY BLOODY GOOD TIME to do it (not just because I had TIME to) because it was light, warm and (mostly) dry. Now that we’re in Lockdown 3: Winter’s Here, I’m STRUGGLING. I don’t wanna run in the cold; I don’t wanna run in the wet; I can’t run in the snow (the NHS is already under enough stress; it doesn’t need careless/foolish runners falling over in the snow to add to its pressure!).
I miss getting out for a run. I miss being able to just shove on my running stuff whenever I want and RUNNING (that like legs-hurt, lungs-hurt, brain-hurts kinda run). Running is still a struggle. I still have moments of HATING it while I’m running (it’s HARD, it HURTS and there will always be people who are BETTER at it than you… and if you’re anything like me, that is FRUSTRATING).
Thank you for everyone who has ever said anything encouraging about my running. I am incredibly lucky to have such a supportive bunch of people around me!
As someone who never thought they’d be a runner:
If you think you wanna give it a go, please go give it a go!
S x
alittlebutalot 
I taught myself to run several years ago and I totally understand what you mean. I never thought I could be a runner. I regularly got Cs in gym class because I walked the mile. But running because I wanted to was so freeing! My body can’t handle it any more unfortunately. Running just leads to injury no matter how slow I take it but I love that you’ve found it and it’s working for you!
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I am so proud of your running. I’m in awe of you. I really want to get back to it but I have to learn lungs and also muscles first 😂
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