I Accidentally Became a Runner
A girl posting her Strava stats and talking about pace and run clubs—this is what my first month of running has done to me.
My first experience
My first-ever run was also a 5K race, complete with a downpour and a hailstorm. A bit of a brutal start, if you ask me. But hey, at least I finished in 43 minutes. Given the circumstances, I was just glad I made it to the finish line.
Everything this experience taught me can be read here: What running 5 km for the first time taught me about myself
Since I had bought running shoes (On Cloud X4), the thought of only using them once felt financially painful. Thus, I accidentally kickstarted and entered my running era. If you thought one race would be enough within a month, you were wrong.
I signed up for another run within the same month, fueled by sheer delusion and determination, and finished a 5K in 40 minutes.
Huge progress!
The question remains:
What changed?
The short answer:
My mindset!
The long answer:
When I saw a grandpa pushing another person in a wheelchair during heavy rainfall—not even seeming out of breath while I was wheezing—I knew something had to change. My sedentary lifestyle had left a mark. My body felt heavy, while I felt weak. My lungs could barely function.
I was close to seeing my ancestors for a bit, I believe.
At least, that’s what running for the first time felt like.
In an odd sense, I also remembered my own words being thrown back at me: The grieve of waiting for someone to change
I was grieving the fact that I had not shown up for myself when it came to my health. That was the moment it clicked for me.
In Austrian dialect, we’d say:
“Des konn jo ned so weida geh.”
(It can’t go on like this.)
This has become my mantra ever since that day back in May.
Acknowledging that something requires change is the first step. Deciding to change is step 1.5. The actual change? Now we’re talking about a real journey.
I put on my shoes and started running. However far my feet and lungs would take me. However slowly was necessary for me to take just one more step.
This was hard.
Breathing as though I had hiked up a mountain after only a couple hundred meters was hard. Knowing that my body would ache the next day from using and building leg muscles was hard.
But the joy of coming home after completing a run was a feeling I wanted to experience again and again. I was training my brain to understand that hard things were okay.
My goal was never to run another 5K during those first few weeks. My goal was simply to get out and run. If that meant running for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes, then that goal remained realistic and low-stakes.
One month later
I use Strava to track my runs and pace. My first run for fun lasted 16 minutes. I covered 2.02 km with an average pace of 8:19 min/km.
My latest run lasted 22 minutes. I covered 2.81 km with an average pace of 7:57 min/km.
That’s huge progress for me!
One month may not sound like much, but it is the accumulation of every day I made the decision to show up for myself. Lately, I have also been implementing the 80/20 guideline I learned from this book: Das Psyche-Darm Paradox
Eighty percent of your diet can remain the same. You only need a 20% change for long-term success.
Conclusion
Running is hard. I commend everyone who is thinking about starting that journey, those who have already started, and those who are knee-deep in the running game. I am excited to see where my feet will take me.
As of now, I still can’t keep up with social run clubs, where an easy pace often falls somewhere around 6–7 min/km, but I hope to join one someday.
Until then, I shall continue to be an “annoying” Strava girlie.
I’ve worked for those stats!
I’m always open to hearing about your experiences. If you have any tips and tricks, please feel free to share them in the comments below 😊
Lead your dreams,
Soso
