Why running?

So after my last visit to the doctor, and determined not to go onto Amlodipine if I could possibly help it, I started looking around for some form of exercise that I thought I might stick to. I mentioned before that I am not too keen on team games, so running seemed a possibility.

After a bit of web research, I began to think that there were a couple of reasons why I had never enjoyed running in the past. Firstly, my joints and muscles always seemed to suffer far more than they ought to for the amount of work I was doing. Secondly, no matter how often I ran or how slowly I tried to build up the miles, I never seemed to improve. Both these facts had always sapped my morale and led eventually to me losing interest.

Looking at others' experiences on the web, it seemed the reason for this might be that I had forgotten, or possibly never learned how to run properly, I had always assumed that running was something we all know how to do, and that if I was suffering I must be down to some physical limitations on my part. I started going on a few short runs - initially walking when I felt tired, and adding a little bit to the distance every few days.

I came across the book 'Born to Run' (by Chris McDougall) at this point. I read it cover-to-cover in two days, and I can honestly say it was truly inspiring stuff. By the end of it I was fully signed up to the idea that we are all of us natural runners (thanks to evolution) and that if this doesn't appear to be the case, it is because years of wearing shoes and travelling in cars has made us forget how to do it. I urge anyone who is thinking of taking up running to buy this book and read it. Chris's blog is worth a look too.

So it has now been about seven weeks, and I am running every other day, adding 1/4 of a mile after every three runs. See the Dailymile panel on the top right for the current totals. I only started recording the runs after I reached 1 mile - it just seemed too embarassing before that.