Hi you there. This time I decided to share the story how I started running, why it is important and why I’m going to carry on.
Before January 2020, the last time I’d run longer than 100 meters to the bus station was a high school and from my memories, it wasn’t a very enjoyable process (probably because when I was 15 I wanted to do nothing, but just playing video games). Probably everyone had these times at school when the teacher asked you to do something, which was completely outside of the area of your interest.
First time I started considering jogging a year ago, in December 2020. At that time I was up to my ears in work because of very tight deadlines and was spending up to 15 hours daily with the computer. After a week or so, I started to feel annoying pain in my back. I thought that just short breaks during the working days will help, but they didn’t. At that time some gossips started spreading among the people about the new viruses, so I decided to omit gyms and other public places. And you know, after a brief analysis I figured out, that there are not so many things you could do on your own, without very special equipment and with a quick start. I had a few options to choose between: cycling, home workout, yoga, running. For the first option, I didn’t have a good bike, for the next two options – I didn’t have enough willpower to do any physical activities right near my favorite sofa where I used to spend evenings with Netflix, so my choice was running – I had some old snickers and shorts – that was enough for start.
My first run wasn’t at any point fast or long, in addition, it was cold (January 25) and foggy. Probably at that time I made all possible mistakes before the run – wear 3 warm layers of clothes, forgot about warmup, had breakfast right before the running. So if you want to start running, please be smarter than me and read some How-Tos before (example here)
BUT, after even such failed run, I fell in love with running and it is still true.
So bellow I want to put my personal points, why running rules:
- The pain in a back is gone – that was my initial reason to run and after even the first run, I was feeling much better than before. I know, that not because of the miracle power of running, but rather overall physical activity, but for me this activity was running.
- That was a big discovery for me, but running helps a lot against daily stress. After full of stress working days, running helps to “refresh the head” and switch the focus to something else (this aspect is certainly very important for me, because there were dozens of times when I was thinking about work for a long time after working hours)
- Thanks for running I’ve met new interesting people and improved contact with people I already know. This includes common running events (in a workplace we organize “running Thursdays”, when we do ~5km with colleagues in before lunchtime) as well as some public races (this year I’ve participated in 3 such events and each of them was full of positive emotions and people)
- Running helps me to be in a good shape 😉 Well, I’m a pretty skinny guy, but even though I had a few extra kilograms, so after a year of running I did my -10kg (which for sure were extras one).
- Last but not least – it helped me do not get out of my mind because of the 2020 year and a half of the year on self-isolation. There were moments (especially in April-May) when everyone had to have a very solid reason to go outside and luckily jogging was one of such reasons (at least in Poland). So especially in times of COVID, running is a very good option.
I’m not a running coach neither a doctor and could not advocate running for everyone, because it also has a lot of cons. But at least for me, running works perfectly and I could recommend it in case you don’t have any contraindications to do so.
The last thing I want to share with you is probably my achievements during 2020 in terms of running. I know they are not gigantic, but it was my first year with running adventures and I will do my best to beat myself next year.
You could also follow my on Strava here.
Stay tuned Guys, Bye
P.S. bellow I will share a few photos from this running year 🙂
