Giving Up My Hate For Running
My Nike trainers pounded the pavement as I panted through the streets of Bromley, recalling my childhood nightmares of long distance running. I loathe it, I’ve never had the stamina and running a 10K, let alone a marathon is a pipe dream. Growing up, I was part of all of the sport’s ‘A’ teams: netball, hockey, rounders, athletics and for short sprints would typically finish in the top three but finishing a 1500m race in anything other than last was never on the cards for me.
With the gym being closed and having to fight for space at home for Instagram live workouts, I decided that it was time to give running another go and downloaded the 5K Runner app. Completing a 5K would definitely be a challenge because a) I can’t run that far to save my life. A warm up at the gym would consist of me running 1K before moving on; b) I like to be good at everything and typically skip activities in which I’m less talented and c) my approach to running needs, perseverance, enthusiasm and commitment. In a letter to my parents terminating my flute lessons indefinitely, my teacher wrote, “I’m sorry to lose Naomi as a pupil, but I honestly feel that she will never succeed as a flute player with such a ‘laid back’ approach to lessons. Needless to say, I’m not a flautist.
Running has a plethora of benefits including prevention of high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers amongst other things, so there are many reasons to incorporate this type of exercise into my lifestyle. Exercise is great for our mental health, making us happier through release of endorphins, although when my auntie asked me if I had experienced ‘runners high’ I practically laughed her off the phone. I have a long way to go before I can describe the experience of running as enjoyable… At the moment I’m just trying to maintain breathing ability.
I started using the 5K Runner app. It’s an eight-week, interval led training program which would build me up to eventually run 5K. The experience wasn’t horrendous, but I definitely wouldn’t describe myself as having a good time. Running at this point was a chore, but I had made a commitment to complete the program. The end of week two finished with a disappointing run, when my Dad suggested my route take me along Mead Way, a long cherry blossom lined road with a ‘gentle’ incline. “It will be good for you,” he said, “A nice little run,” he said and honestly, I thought it would be fine, but little did I know it would practically kill me off.
This week I had one good run before a ‘wonderful friend’ nominated me to run 5K as part of the NHS #runforheroes campaign. I was mortified. I’d seen various photos on Instagram of what felt like the entire human race running 5k in 28 minutes and for me that’s preposterous. I was running 3K in the same amount of time and hell would freeze over before I would post how long it took me to run… I didn’t even know if I would be able to finish. I’d also been very careful not to mention to anyone about running in the hope that I would be bypassed, but that was where my luck ran out -Thanks Joe for the nomination!
Thursday, I set off. I just wanted to get it done and over with and the only thing powering my legs was my competitive nature of wanting to complete. I decided my tactic would be to just run and walk when needed with no training program as I wanted to see how long it would take. When I was younger my mum would remind me that it was the taking part that counts, whereas my dad would tell me that I was taking part to win and for me, completing 5K would be a win, as it would mean I could do it.
Running was hard, but there had been some improvement as I wasn’t as breathless as when I started. When I crossed the finish line 39 minutes later, (Doing it for the slow, non-runners out there) I felt a great sense of achievement… I even bought myself a new pair of proper running trainers to celebrate.
