Running | Chris Mear

Today I have been thinking about... running.

During the first lockdown of 2020 I started running. I'd never really enjoyed running before but with not a lot else to do it was something that passed the time and when you put some music or a podcast on it could be quite fun, or so I thought. After doing the same route time after time, day after day running became very boring and without an immediate improvement in my results I didn't feel like it was worth it so I switched to walking. "At least when I'm walking I can take in the view and I have more time to think" became a reason I gave myself for walking instead of running.

I continued walking for the rest of the year, although less often, with the occasion run sprinkled in to 'spice it up'. Roll round to the last few weeks and I have really been slacking. I've got myself back into the swing of work and lost the habit of going for a walk before I have a bath when I get home. (Bathing after work tends to be a defining point of "I'm done for the day"). This has been playing on my mind but I had no real drive to change anything, that was until five-a-side football was allowed to start again. With just over a week's notice before our first game I knew I would be in trouble if I tried to play a game without doing more than the walk up and down stairs at work as preparation. And so began the running.

As I'm writing this post I've only been for two runs so I'm by no means a changed man but I think I've found a cheat code - go running with friends. When I was running last year I always went on my own. I really enjoy solitude but in a struggle like running where you essentially have to convince your body every second to keep going and not give in to the pain you're feeling in your legs or the shortness of breath you have in your chest you are much better off being with other people. Two days ago I went for a run on my own and I had noticable swings of self belief every 5 to 10 seconds. I went from "I feel great, I could do this for hours" to "I could give up right now, my legs hurt" so quickly I felt like Homer Simpson running through Alaska to get home. In contrast, yesterday I went for a run with a couple of the guys I play football with. We ran the same distance but at no point did I feel like I needed to stop, this was amazing considering I'd spent all day struggling to get up and down the stairs because of soreness in my thighs.

The addition of conversation and banter when with friends helped to keep my motivation high and we shared some accountability where no one really wanted to stop before the others. Have a look at this post for more on this idea.

I may or may not have agreed to run a half marathon in November with another friend (minor flex) so I will be updating this blog and my socials along the way through my training to see how well I get on and whether I will actually manage to complete the half marathon. I will be using #desktohalfmarathon to keep all my socials feeding into the same thing. Maybe you could join me on my journey.

‍