How I made running a thing I love
If you met me this time last year, I probably would have told you that one of my goals for the year was to get healthier. But my follow through was lacking. To be honest, I was one of those people that would start a habit then slowly allow my commitment to dwindle. But this year I had too much at stake: I had set the intention in January, to live a healthier lifestyle. This involved me waking up earlier than ever before (consistently), meditating, keeping my mind engaged and finally, working out on a consistent basis.
The year began and I was checking of some of these boxes but my biggest huddle was working out. Staying consistent about getting out there and just doing it! One of my closest friends Greta, is a rower. She rowed for Northeastern all five years and she is a beautiful Amazonian queen. Working out for her has always seemed to come easy. Her commitment to it even after we graduated was something I admired about her. She inspired me so much when she picked up fencing and still kept rowing all through her PHD. She challenged me to do more! I spoke to her last year and she said super casually, just do it Binja. It wasn’t the first time she had said it but for some reason it was the kick in the butt that I needed.
Now, my level of exercise especially at the end of last year was on couch potato status. I did not exercise at all. I called walking to catch my über or running through the airport to get to my flight exercise. Not that it’s not – it’s just that that was ALL the exercise that I did. So when time came for me to actually get going, I petrified. I didn’t have a set plan or a course I took, I just got on the treadmill and started walking.
For the first two and a half weeks, all I did was walk. I got to 1 mile in about 20 minutes. I made it to 2 miles in 45 minutes. I was incredibly slow and out of shape. So I felt every stride and felt every layer of additional fat that I was carrying around. I felt heavy. I’m not tall and all the additional fat that I was carrying around could be felt with each step.
So I continued to push. I went from walking for the entirety of the workout to jogging for one minute at 4.5 on the treadmill and then walking. I tried to alternate this pattern every five minutes. This was rough. I was out of breath and embarrassingly so as everyone else at the gym could hear me heave after just one minute fo running. I decided to block everyone else out as the more I thought about what people thought, the less I challenged myself to actually jog.
A few weeks into the year, I decided that it was time to up the minutes spent jogging. I slowly went from 4.5 for 1 minute, to 3 minutes, to 5 minutes to 15 minutes. The day I jogged for 15 minutes straight, I felt like death itself but more importantly I had never been prouder of my progress! Me! I did that! I ran that! I seriously had NEVER done than in at least 10 years! So I did an internal happy dance as I attempted to catch my breath.
I started running 13 minutes miles and y’all I couldn’t believe that I was doing it! I was the one running and killing it! I have a Fitbit so I started running on the treadmill using the Fitbit Coach App as a guide. I upped my running game and well, here we are five months in and thirty pounds lighter! I have been running everyday for the last five months (except on Sundays) and I haven’t looked back! Was it hard? Absolutely. Were there days I just felt like – I can’t even? Yes. But I persevered. I stuck with it. In the snow, rain or sunshine, I was out there running.
I write this post to encourage you. You who is looking at the year and thinking that its month 6 and you haven’t been to the gym since the first week of January. Yes, you – just do it. Just start. Don’t overthink it. Just go and start running.
