On Running: Why I put myself through such pain.

Earlier I watched this video and felt far too inspired. It resulted in me writing what I'm posting below. It's probably a load of rubbish, but maybe somebody will relate to it.

For some unknown reason, I seem to be feeling more motivated to put my leggings on, lace up my trainers and go for a long hard run than I have done in a long while. Maybe it’s due to the weather here currently being perfect – bright with a cool breeze – and the fact I have a great park on my doorstep. I’m not entirely sure. Nevertheless, it feels great to be so enthusiastic about something which, although makes you feel great afterwards, can be so painful at times.

I started running properly about two years ago now. I have been going to the gym since I was about 15, but I always seemed to shy away from the treadmill, sticking to spinning sessions and lengthy spells on the cross trainer, but one Sunday morning I was in the gym with my dad and the London Marathon was on, and I decided to give the treadmill a go. I haven’t really looked back since.

Running simply provides me the greatest feeling of freedom possible. I’m probably the biggest stresshead/worrier/pessimist you’ll ever have the misfortune of encountering, so to have found something which (at least temporarily) gets rid of any of the crap in my head is a godsend. There’s just something so liberating about going out into the fresh air, not having to think about anything other than putting one foot in front of the other and going for as long as possible.

Feeling good on the inside is definitely the main reason why I've kept going for so long, however I guess it does mean I’m not the porker that I probably should be. I've not actually lost any weight at all since I started running, which I guess on the whole I’m fine with as I’m technically a ‘healthy weight’, but my body has definitely changed. I used to dread going shopping for jeans (my mum also dreaded having to accompany me) as sometimes nothing in any size seemed to fit. That is now a thing of the past, and I somehow even manage to get my sturdy legs into Topshop's skinniest offerings. This has prevented many of those awful ‘coming out of the changing room feeling like you could cry’ scenarios from happening. I’ve also managed to achieve these results despite eating like a pig the majority of the time. I dread to think how super fit I could be if I bothered to eat like a normal human being, as opposed to living off chocolate.

It sounds almost daft to say this about something so simple, something which doesn’t cost a penny, and something which our bodies are naturally designed to do, but I’m not sure what I’d do if I wasn't able to run. 

I’m never going to be the best at it, and I’m not going to be the fittest girl in the world (one can only dream), but I sure hope that I can keep this habit up for as long as possible. My aim for this summer is to complete a half marathon, hopefully in less than 2 hours. After that? Who knows.