The Lainey Blog

I’ve already sent my hubby a text informing him that I will be going for a run when he returns home from work. Now I have to go! But please don’t be mistaken, I actually love running – I just haven’t been out in a while.

I will prepare an energy boosting smoothie to drink before I go out. This will ensure I have adequate energy to see me through the 50 minute feat. (I know you’re impressed, right?! – Actually don’t be, the people who will be out walking at the same time will probably end up overtaking me..)

It’s headspace. Peace and quiet. An achievement.

I feel so accomplished after my run. When the run is getting tough, I simply repeat my mantra “running is a discipline, running is a disclipline…” And the word ‘discipline’ is the most important to me because I never really considered myself to be disciplined at anything. Until I realised that I was.

But it wasn’t always like that. I never used to think that I would be capable of going for a run at all.

In fact, I never really saw the appeal to be honest.

I thought people who ran for fun were weirdos.

“Ahm… so you exercise non stop, for like an hour… and you enjoy it?!” …Freak!

Out of breath, sweating, pain EVERYWHERE, no thanks!

Yet, I did want to try it. I yearned to be that gal who just went for a run. Or who was just coming back from their run. Or, who would be running (excuse the pun!) late for brunch because she just had to go for a run first…

And try I did. For like a minute. And that was as far as I could go. Until I began going to the gym regularly in my early twenties and then I could manage 7 minutes on a treadmill. But if I missed a session or didn’t go to the gym for a few weeks, I’d be back down to 5 minutes continuous running before I just had to stop.

Was lifestyle a factor? Absolutely!

I didn’t realise it back then but my determination to ‘be skinny’ was in fact sabotaging my fitness levels. I barely ate enough to fuel a proper run and the food that I did eat was hardly nutritious enough to support any kind of activity.

Was my attitude holding me back? Yes!

Absolutely not interested in ‘pushing through the pain’, I would stop the moment running felt challenging. Rather than take a break until I could start again, I would pack it in and walk.

I thought running had to be a most torturous activity.

Just do it

Feel the pain and do it anyway.

Not my jam baby.

But then something amazing happened. After months of doing HIIT I decided to go out for a run one day. I would run for as long as I could and then try to improve on that time.

To my surprise, I ran for 20 minutes straight. I pushed myself in the last 5 minutes – now being used to pushing myself in HIIT class. HIIT had given me the stamina I lacked before.

This gave me a really great starting point. A great opportunity to explore running in its entirety. Instead of stopping when it got tough, I simply slowed down. And that gave me enough time to recover while still running.

I currently run between 5-7k when I do go out. Takes me ages to do it but I’m always so proud when I’ve finished. Some days I can push myself really hard and do extra. Other days I can barely do the 5k. But it’s all good, because it’s all movement when there otherwise would be none.

I’m aiming to do 10k comfortably now. I suppose it’s my new goal. I’ll probably be running for hours! But that’s a few extra hours of peace and quiet!

So if you see a very focused looking woman running for her life while being overtaken by pedestrians, give a wave! I’d be delighted to see you!

‘Til next time pals…

Lainey 😉