How the hate for running changed my life
I hate running with a passion. And it makes sense, physiologically. Running is what happens when the fight-or-flight mechanism kicks in and we decide to escape danger. Our ancestors never intended to run just for fun.
My cardio workout of choice was always dancing, and in particular salsa. It’s enjoyable, the music is amazing, you get sweaty and it’s a social activity! In addition to that, research shows that dancing helps with your mental health, focus and productivity. It made perfect sense, pre-pandemic. Now, dancing alone at home — not so fun.
As we entered the second month of working from home full time and socially distancing, I knew something had to change. My first idea was to try yoga. And it was a great one! There is a reason why Yoga with Adriene has millions of followers. She is lovely and doesn’t make you feel like a loser every time you can’t do something (which, in yoga, happens often). Also, her dog Benji is always a sight for sore eyes.
The problem was that yoga wasn’t enough. Working from home, relaxing at home, exercising from home… I needed a change in this pattern. Long walks did the trick for a while, but again — they weren’t enough. So my partner suggested we try running.
I hate running with a passion, I told him.
Just a circle around the house, he said.
And so it started. With every step, I was swearing (in Serbian, so people passing by wouldn’t understand). I was angry with him, with myself, with the mud, with my shoes, with my leggings. We finished the first circle around the house (around 3 km) in 24 minutes. I was completely out of breath.
Let’s do this every day for a week, he said.
Hm.. okay, I agreed, but only because I was too tired to explain that I don’t intend to keep the promise.
Later that evening, I was feeling surprisingly good. I was happy, it felt like I did something good for myself and I was sleepy. That was the first time in weeks that I actually slept through the night.
We went for another run the next day. It was bad (if not worse), but it helped me sleep again. In addition to that, I was more focused on work the next day.
A few weeks into our running routine, I realised that there is one thing I enjoy in those 20+ minutes. I’m away from my phone. As we usually ran in the evenings and taking into consideration that I need to stretch and shower after the run, my screen time went down by 20% in the first week only. I thought to myself: If I can convince myself to run every day, I can convince myself to delete all the unnecessary apps from my phone and decrease my screen time even more. In the following two weeks, my screen time went from over 5 hours/day to only 2.
It’s been two months since we started running. I still hate every second of it and we still do only the 3 km circle around the house, but now in less than 20 minutes. There’s something empowering in pushing yourself to run, even if you’re horrible at it. It makes you feel like you have control over something, which really helps in this COVID-19 world.
If you hate running as much as I do, some tips & tricks:
- Tell yourself it’s only 20 minutes. I don’t know you, but I bet you spent longer in some meetings you absolutely hated.
- Remind yourself that you’ll feel good afterwards (runner’s high is an actual thing).
- Promise yourself something you crave after the run (for me it’s usually popcorn and wine).
- Don’t invest in any special gear. Start with whatever you have and when you get better, buy better clothes/shoes/whatever you need.
- Find someone who will hold you accountable — it’s more difficult to skip a run if there’s someone on your side, to remind you why you started and to cheer you on.
In summary
Running helped me sleep better, be more focused at work and decrease my average screen time, which freed me up to do things that actually matter.
I still can’t wait to go back to dancing salsa.
