Have you been thinking about becoming a runner?
Getting off on the right foot means understanding enough about yourself, your life, and your willingness to commit to this new activity. You need to ask yourself for permission to begin a life as a runner. Permission to find the time, permission for perseverance and permission to spend some $$ on good runners.
Time is often a big factor, particularly in the early days and weeks of our running lives. Many of us are already so busy that it’s hard to imagine adding another time-consuming activity to our overloaded schedules, yet running is one of the most time efficient exercises around. You just need to find a strategy for it.
In the first few months, try to establish a schedule. You are more likely to succeed if you find just a few minutes several times a week that you can commit to running than if you devise an elaborate and completely unrealistic plan – a schedule that will fall apart in a matter of days.
Plan your runs on the basis of time rather than distance. Just plan to get out of the house for a certain amount of time. Forget how far you go. Forget how fast you go. Just get out the door and run!
A program of alternating running and walking is a good way to begin. The first week that may mean running for thirty seconds and walking for five minutes to recover. I know someone is who is repeatedly running one minute, walking one minute. In no time, they’ll by running five minutes, walking five. The truth is, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are getting out of the house and learning to use your body as a means of transportation.
If you are patient, persistent, consistent and not over doing it, an amazing transformation will begin to occur. Your wonderfully adaptive body will begin to cooperate. It will happen in your own time and at your own pace, to be sure, but the transformation will take place. Those brand-new running shoes will begin to show signs of wear. Those once bright white running socks will become a dull grey from pounding the pavement.
Not only are you becoming a runner, but you are becoming a runner in training. You will have goals. You will have good days and bad days. You will have days when you can’t wait to run. You will have days when you don’t want to get off the couch. But one thing is certain, you have become a runner!
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