Why Running?

There are a whole heap of ways to exercise. I have a friend who loves to swim. If it involves getting wet, that’s her exercise.  My sister teaches aerobics classes and loves to dance, my Dad takes mega long bike rides at every opportunity. I have another friend who plays netball, water polo, any team sport. Mum swears by long walks.

I chose to run. I decided that this would be my path to weight loss a long time before I actually started running.  Even though it really hurt, and even though I eventually had to have a minor surgery before I could do it effectively, I was still determined that running was my preferred exercise. I chose it for a few different reasons, I continued with it for entirely different reasons.

The reasons I chose running to start with were:

• I read somewhere that 70% of women in some study who maintained a significant weightloss had taken up running. I don’t know where I read this, I was in a bookshop flicking through weight loss books I think. And I’ve never found any mention of this study anywhere else, ever. But I still believe it!
• I like to travel, and go on holidays. But every time I started an exercise program, I’d go on some trip and it would get interrupted, and I’d lose my momentum.
• I wanted to future proof my weightloss. You can’t always afford a gym membership, and you may not always be near a gym or a pool, and you won’t always have a bike available. Life can interfere with team sports. But sneakers are relatively inexpensive and very portable, and the road is always there waiting. You can run on holidays, on work trips, anywhere.
• You know the Nike ads, and all the rest? The images of the runner in the dawn light? Hell, you know those super fit creatures you see jogging in every park and beack around the world? I like those images, and I wanted to be those creatures.  So yeah, advertising was abig reason too!

The reasons I kept running once I’d started:

• I’d invested in it so heavily - I mean, I had surgery for goodness sake! It would be silly to just give up after that!
• It works! I started getting results. I felt fitter and the weight was coming off.  That’s damn good motivation.
• It’s easy. You put on your sneakers, clip on your MP3 and head out the door. There’s not too many excuses you can make, really!
• The ENDORPHINS!! That high that you get after a run? Good God, there’s nothing quite like it. I haven’t gotten that from any other exercise.

So that’s why I run. The reasons I started are still valid, but they’re not the reasons I keep going. Now that I’ve finished C25k, I will choose another goal, and hit the road again.