Why running is for everyone

Running isn’t just for elite athletes or super-fit people that you see on social media. It’s for everyone and anyone who wants to move, improve and just enjoy the journey.

Running is for all fitness levels

The main point I want to drive home here is that, everyone starts from somewhere, so you don’t have to be super fit or experienced in order to get into running. I say this because I’ve lost count of the amount of times someone has said to me, I could never do that, but I guarantee that person is also looking at someone faster than them saying the same thing. I have friends who see my runs and think they could never do that, but only 2.5 years ago, I could barely run 1km, I’m just further along the journey. One day in the future someone will look at you and think, I could never do that.

Running can be whatever you want it to be, you want to run a parkrun or a 5k on Saturdays, great! You want to just run alone, great! You want to run just to have a coffee and croissant with friends after, great! Want to train for marathons, also great! There is no right or wrong way to be a runner, at the end of the day, you have to find what works for you. 

Running doesn’t have to be continuous, you’re allowed to walk. No one is monitoring if you are walking in your runs, there is only the Strava police if you try to ‘fake’ a ridiculously fast time. So if you want to walk a little bit, stop to take a picture, have a quick nap on a bench, just do it. At the end of the day, all that really matters is that you’re doing it, after a period of time you’ll realise that you won’t need those anymore.

The benefits go beyond just your health

Running isn’t just about your physical health, but also your mental. This proven by lots of different scientific studies but also from my own personal experience as well. Just doing exercise improves your memory, mood, and it has a massive antidepressive effect due to it blunting the brain’s response to physical and emotional stress. Source

Over the last few years you may have seen the huge rise in social run clubs everywhere, I don’t even know how many there are in London and in Barcelona they are everywhere. It’s such a great thing to see with lots of communities being created around running, making it accessible to so many more people. It highlights one of the beauties of running as well, that everyone is there to support and encourage one another. If you needed advice or support on anything, I guarantee anyone would be willing to help you, whether that advice is useful or not, that’s another thing.

Running is also super simple to get into, you don’t need anything too specific or expensive to start (although it does help…). I think my first pair of trainers were €20 and looking back terrible, but they did the job of getting me into running. Now, I can’t promise running stays cheap, as it has now become the most expensive hobby I’ve ever had. More on that another time though. 

There is no right or wrong way to run

There is no ‘perfect’ form that you need to run, there are obviously more efficient ways to run, but at the end of the day we’re not professionals. The first thing is to start, you can work on form later on. If you’ve ever seen a run race in your city, you’ll probably not see any two people run in exactly the same way, because all our bodies are unique.

The start of your journey may involve as much walking as running in order to build up your fitness. But as I’ve said before, everyone has to start somewhere. If you stay consistent with running you’ll feel the changes come quickly and before you know it, you’ll be running more than walking.

Your distance doesn’t matter, do that 1km run. Don’t feel embarrassed to share that with friends on Strava for example, just do it. Something I almost guarantee is that your ‘runner’ friends will support you all the way through your journey. I see it all the time on Strava and people want to see you succeed. If they don’t, well, they’re just jealous that you’re giving it a go and they don’t have the courage to do it themselves. 

Takeaway

My message at the end of this is to just start, take that first step and before you know it you know it you’ll be on your 100th step where people will start looking up at you.

Stay tuned for next weeks blog post where I’ll go into how to start running (without hating it) or follow me on Instagram for further insights