In early January, I read the book "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall. Willie had read a shorter version of the story online and told me about it. Then the book was reviewed by one of the fitness podcasts I listen to, so I decided to give it a try. I thought the book was amazing. It was fascinating information about running and a good story.
I have always wanted to run. I was even on the track team in Junior High (I threw the shot put). Every time I have tried to get into running, I have a few days where it's fun, then it starts to wear thin and I trudge through the running, until I eventually stop. But, after reading "Born to Run", I decided to give it another try.
In the book, the author talks about how the running style used by long-distance runners is different. It's a "forefoot" fall, where your leg lands under your center of gravity and you use your muscles and tendons to absorb the shock before propelling you forward. When the author described running this way as "the closest a human could come to flying", I knew I had to try it.
I read more about the stride online then I tried running around the indoor track at the Y. Besides being pathetically out of shape, I felt good. I kept going, every few days, and trying to run in the way I'd read about. It was tiring, but I listened to my body and only did what it could handle. That was two weeks ago. On Sunday, I was aching to go get some exercise. I ran faster and further than I have been, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Then today, I ran again. I tried to go slower, thinking that if I went slowly, I could run for longer before stopping to walk. You know what, it wasn't as much fun. I think part of what made the running so fun on Sunday was that I went fast and it felt like playing. Working on that theory, I started running faster and it was fun again! I wasn't sprinting, but I was running faster than I would have otherwise. The mantra from "Born to Run" came back to me: "if it feels like work, you're working too hard".
Armed with this new approach to running, I hope it remains fun and I can stick with it. After all, it's what we were built to do.