Running Out of Excuses

Getting over yourself and making stuff happen.

I used to ride a bike. Then I fell out of love.

I used to run. Then in 2012 I picked up a couple of injuries and had to stop for a while. A while doesn’t have an end date, so weeks became months, months became years. I got lazy and out of shape. Worse still, I convinced myself that a recurrence of my injuries wasn’t worth the risk, and though I’ve been a much more active walker of late, I know I’m not really getting any fitter. I keep kidding myself that being in shape will somehow just magically happen.

Yesterday evening, out of the blue Keira suggested that the three of us go for a run the following morning. Carole runs regularly and Keira is full of beans and super fit. Maybe it was the prosecco talking, but I agreed to join in.

Sunday morning. I got up regretting my commitment to run and then, serendipitously, read ‘How Far Will Your Baby Steps Take You?‘ by Tim Scott. Tim’s post is a lovely piece of encouragement, and he wins extra points for mentioning guitars too. It turns out that Tim’s post, and Keira and Carole’s enthusiasm are a powerful combination.

I’m not kidding myself, it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock n roll. But you have to start somewhere and this morning’s 3.1 miles (my first run in over two years) will do me just fine.

Update: May 2015

The running didn’t stick, my knees are definitely not as fond of the idea as the rest of me! I kept on walking through the Spring and Summer and then I discovered a few friends in America taking part in Runners Week Run Streak. This was a challenge for people to try and run for at least a mile every day between Thanksgiving and New year’s Day. I joined in at walking pace and managed to get the job done. You can read more about how I got on here.

Once the Runners Week challenge was complete, during which time I completed 111.1 miles (spooky huh), I just kept on going. I’m currently clocking up somewhere between 140 and 150 miles a month, you can read more about how I’m getting on here.