RUNNING

HOW IT STARTED

I started running when I was a teenager.

I'd quit all the sports I was doing — mostly out of teenage rebellion — but I still wanted to do something. I just didn't really want to admit it, or have anyone know I was doing it.

So I went running.

I was already fit, so I ran about five kilometres from the start. I didn't have a running watch. I didn't have a training plan. I didn't know anything about pace, heart-rate zones or running technique.

This was before social media made recreational running something you saw everywhere. As far as I knew, people who ran were marathon runners.

I wasn't a marathon runner. I just went running.

And then I started testing my own limits. If I had more time, I'd see if I could go farther. If I had more energy, I'd see if I could go faster.

I didn't know how to be a runner.
I just tried running.

20 YEARS LATER

I've had breaks. I haven't been running continuously for twenty years. But somehow, running has always found its way back into my life.

Today I run because it makes me feel better. It's exercise, an outlet and time that's completely mine.

I never became a serious runner. I don't race. I still don't wear a running watch. I don't obsess over pace, distance or numbers.

I know much more about running now than I did when I started. I own several pairs of running shoes, a running vest and a few things I've picked up over the years because they turned out to be useful.

And yes — sometimes I buy running shoes simply because they're pretty.

Twenty years later, I'm still not trying to become a runner.
I just like running.

YOUR FIRST TRY

JUST GO RUNNING