The Process of Running | Spence Smith

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic. You may also want to follow me on Twitter.

I’ve been running for a few years now. I’m not the fastest or the best at it, but I know how to do it and not hate it.

I talk to so many people who want to like even the thought of running. Any time I have a conversation about what I’m doing with triathlons, we end up talking about how they could never see themselves doing one of the three sports much less all three.

I always take the conversation back to when I started running.

Running for me was and still is therapeutic. My marriage was going down the tubes, I needed to lose some weight and I found myself loving the mental clarity and energy I had after a good run.

Getting through that first mile…No pun intended…was a milestone. I would think…if I could just run a mile, then I could go for two miles…and on and on.

The key though was finding a plan to go by and a group of people who were already running and beginner’s like me. It’s so much harder when you try to walk out your door and start running with no instruction or goals or way to gauge progress. This is what we call…Learning the hard way and hating it.

A great place to start with a group and a goal is Team In Training.

Life is such a process. So is running. You have to look at it in small steps and go from there. When talking about life people say, I’m just trying to live one day at a time. Well that makes sense to me. So why would you not treat running or anything else physical the same way?

Life has it’s ups and downs. So does running. Life has sore spots and aches and pains. So does running. Life has its rewards. So does running. After a little time the soreness starts to fade, the aches and pains go away and running…well now it’s just apart of everyday life now…as if it were second nature…go figure.

It’s all apart of the process. If you bite of more than you can chew then you will fail every time. Run with a plan, set some goals and experience life in a whole new way. You won’t regret what you will learn about yourself in the process.

I did it and now I’m doing triathlons. Never thought I would, but what the heck…might as well tri right?

What do you have to lose?

http://www.getting-ahead.blogspot.com Jennifer

I have run off and on for years now, typically to lose weight after having a baby. I never liked it, in fact I hated it and it hurt. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my son, who is 10, wanted to run. So I went with him and it felt good. So I kept running with him. We are up to almost 2 miles 3 times a week and are scheduled to run a race at the end of this month. Some runs are better than others, but this time around I am enjoying it. Great post!
http://kristiseriously.wordpress.com kristen

1) Running has always been something I always watched everyone else really get into and I always sat back and never believed I could do. You’re right. The first mile looks the roughest.

2) nice to meet you. i just started reading your blog and some of the most recent entries really got to me. i look forward to reading back to find out more about what drives you. any subject categories you advise i start with? i loved the family ones.
Rachel

well said. amen.
http://www.runnerslounge.com Amy

Great post! Can’t agree more than life and running have many parallels and after another day with each – I am a little wiser!

And Tri’s – well, they really teach you deep lessons in stamina and flexibility.

I would love to add your article to the Know How section in the Runners’ Lounge. I think other runners can identify with your thoughts. Please let me know if it is ok to add with a link back to you and this post.

Take care,

Amy
http://www.runnerslounge.com
blog.runnerslounge.com
http://rockthedesert.typepad.com marina

I found a gym with an indoor track. I’m seriously agonizing over the fact that it costs $1600 to join and over $200 per month. Such a cool gym. And all indoors except for the tennis. We need that in AZ. We break into a sweat just walking out to our cars right now. That’s my current excuse for not running. IT’S SO HOT RIGHT NOW. My first baby step will be to buy a Swiss Ball when I return from Romania so that I can do crunches and squats and calf-raises inside my house. I need to not obsess over the fact that I can’t join the high-price gym and figure out a way to make working out work for me instead of against me. I’m thinking of starting to at least power walk inside one of the local malls. Pretty dorky, I know, but again, IT’S SO HOT RIGHT NOW.
Jonathan Camp

I attempted my first marathon in 2003 without a plan. I failed because I was injuring myself by running too many miles, too fast, and had to quit with 3 weeks prior to the race.

Three years later, I used a plan by well-known Hal Higdon, http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm. This led to me completing my first marathon in under 4 hours, and feeling great afterwards.

Coincidentally, I stumbled across this post just before going on a much-needed run, after several months of not running (I’ve been writing my dissertation up until last month, which is no excuse). It will be more of a run/walk.

Thanks for the post. Great inspiration.
StephanieinLex

Cool post. Amen on the Team in Training–thanks for mentioning that, Spence. I credit the program and its amazing coaches–particularly one, my 74-year-old coach who taught me to swim (beyond just survival skills)–for jump starting my fitness in 2006 after yeeeeears of stagnancy with boring workouts at an annoyingly pricey gym. I had run a handful of 5Ks over the years with kind of a defeatist attitude (I'm not a born runner, that's for sure!) and had never tried cycling or swimming. Over two TNT seasons I raised about $10K for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, became a mentor in the program, and found a new, less-expensive way to stay in shape and to run alongside folks (pun intended) as they pushed themselves to achieve new goals. Marina, if you're a swimmer (if you've got the basics down), the USMS Master's Swimming program is a great way to have "gym" access with coaching and accountability. It runs $35 a month for our club, and you don't have to compete in the meets–you'll find all levels of proficiency, from slow swimmers like me to people who lap me about six times. I've found that the endorphins and accountability from those workouts give me the "oomph" I need to get outside and run in the frigid cold of winter (yep, we've got the opposite problem), and I've set my bike up on a trainer in my living room to ride through the winter.
http://intensedebate.com/people/klreed189 Kyle Reed

I use to hate running, but I never actually ran (kind of hard to hate something you do not do). Maybe it was all those flash backs to playing basketball in high school.

I have been running for the past 2 months and have really made some progress. I am now up to running 5 miles a week 4x a week. You can definitely make progress and eventually actually enjoy running.
http://www.kendavis.com Ken Davis

As you know I am slowly losing my feet. But I'm going to run on em until they leave me. Can't always feel them. But I look down and their hitting the ground to I keep going. Thanks for the inspiration you have been. Gotta run!