On Mondays and Thursdays I lead groups of beginner runners. They’re taking part in my 0-5k course and I have no doubt that they’ll all get to that magical 5k in a few weeks’ time. They, however, aren’t always as confident.
Every week I meet them and explain the run we’re going to do and often some of them tell me: “I won’t be able to do that.” And if they haven’t said it out loud to me they say it to themselves. But every week we set off running together and without fail they have completed the runs I’ve set.
I remind them of this frequently – that they said the same thing last week and that they proved themselves wrong. “But this time I really can’t do it.”
I understand their concerns, I’ve been there too. There was a time when I struggled to run for two minutes at a time. There was a time when the thought of running a 10k filled me with fear and a marathon was unfathomable. But you know my story and how I came to run six marathons to date.
It’s great to have a goal – a big, scary goal that motivates you and inspires you to get out there and train for it. Something to look forward to and focus your energies on working towards. But it’s just as important to look back every so often.
Looking back to what you could and couldn’t do last week, last month or last year and how far you’ve come shows you how you’ve knocked down the barriers between what you thought was and wasn’t possible. And it makes you question what you still believe to be impossible.
Those first few months of taking up running are the hardest. You feel like you’re never going to get anywhere and that you’re the worst runner in the world ever. But they’re also the time when you’re improving at the fastest rate. My group have gone from running for just a minute at a time a few weeks ago to knocking out a 25 minute run on Monday night – and they were smiling at the end of it.
Last weekend I finished a half-iron triathlon. It meant swimming 1.9km, cycling 56 miles and running 13.1 miles. It was hard, I cried and I crossed the finish line with serious doubts about whether I’d be able to do a race that’s twice as long. But if I think back to last year when I couldn’t swim, didn’t know how to ride a road bike and had cycled a maximum distance of 10 miles in my life and then think how far I’ve progressed this past year, I start to think maybe, just maybe, there’s an Ironman medal out there with my name on it.
This is one of the main reasons I love blogging. I can look back and see how far I have come since the early days. Three years ago I would never have believed that I would be in the run up to my first 50 mile ultra! I could barely run more than one street at a time!
It’s amazing how far you can come in such a short space of time. There is definitely an Ironman medal out there with your name on it! 🙂
This is so so true. When I was doing the C25K programme, every single week I’d think to myself “no way can I do it this week” and yet was constantly surprised at myself. Being able to look back over the progress I made (and am still making) is one of the best things about running (and blogging about it!).
Sarah xxx
That’s so great that your running group are doing so well – I would love to have learnt with a group like that I think it would have helped me a lot to push myself harder.
It’s fab that you know how much running changed things for you and now you’re giving back to others to help them reach their goals too.
x
That is one reason I wish I had started my blog earlier- I only started running to train for a race for life, and I started with 1 min run, 1 min walk, repeated, and even that was a challenge. Each week I would look at the next step and think “no way- how am I going to run for 2/5/8 mins”- and then after doing the same run 3 times I would be quite amazed that I had managed it. But then by Monday of the next week I would be back to feeling negative.
You can achieve an iron man of course! Just work towards it like you have for everything else.
I wish there was a runners group in my area that catered to beginners like you do
I wanted to thank you… your blog was one of the first running blogs I started reading. I really enjoy your writing and sense of humor. Last year I was barely able to run a 5k and this Sunday I will be running my first marathon. Your witty posts made icing/ stretching a lot more fun!!
I am so glad I found this blog! I was a big runner in high school because I was on the track team. Running then wasn’t the best time but I did it anyways and actually did pretty good. Once I got out of high school I stopped altogether, which was not the best idea. Now that I started running again it’s like I have to start from square 1 all over again. I started running bits at a time. I then decided I would do a 5k (The Color Run). I started training for that, and I couldn’t believe that I had the motivation to run more than 3 miles for fun! Starting off small and working your way up is the way to go! It’s amazing what how far you can go when you set your mind to it!