Stories of when you started running

I started running because we had to be able to run a mile for PT when I did AmeriCorps*NCCC. The YMCA had an 1/8th-mile track so I just started by running once around and then walking once around and repeating. Then worked my way up - 2 runs 1 walk, 3 runs 1 walk - very slowly, until I could run a mile. Don't quit. When I wanted to quit, I'd just run slower. Were there times when I was "running" slower than I could walk? Yes. But mentally I was running, and physically it made it much easier to keep going.

That was 15 years ago.

Running is now my happy place. I don't always want to do it, but it always makes me feel better, stronger, more capable, happier. I've run a marathon and six or seven half-marathons and a bunch of 5Ks and sprint triathlons and a few Olympic triathlons. I'm always at the back of the pack, but I don't care about that. I'm there because it's fun and feels great and is punching my crap genetics in the face, not because I want to beat anyone else.

Keep going.

I ran track in 7th grade, the first year schools in Michigan had inner scholastic sports. That was, damn, the late 80s.

It was a year till I found my race distance, and another 5 till I raced longer than a half mile.

I went from being a slow sprinter to 55 second quarters, 2:15 halfs and 18:00 5ks over those 6 years. Unless you're 11, YMMV

Ran track in high school because it is what my friends were doing.

Ran a 10k after college to get less fat.

Ran a half marathon after seeing people getting medals for it at the 10k (I wanted a medal!)

Ran a marathon after I was dared to sign up during half training.

Ran an ultra after getting drunk and signing up for Comrades in South Africa.


...

and really since then its been drinking and daring.

I started running for the college program I was taking. I had to run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes to graduate. I had never run. I would go to the track and try to run as fast as I could for as long as I could and ended up with shin splints. The doctor told me to rest, so I would. Then I'd run again and get shin splints. The rest ate up my time before I left for school. I couldn't run a half mile without stopping when I left. The first week there I ran the whole 1.5 miles, but over the alloted time. We had to run every morning, pain or no pain. Eventually it just went away. I busted my *kitten* and managed to run 1.5 miles in 11:15 for graduation.

I do wish I had known about a program like C25K back then. The way I went about it was all wrong, but I got there.

After school I kept running, the most was 5k. I got a job away from home and joined a bootcamp class. Some of the women there were training for a half marathon and asked me to join. I thought it was insane but signed up, finished it and moved home the next day.

I've pretty much been running since. I've had my ups and downs, including being hit by a car while running. I've been in shape and out of shape more than once. I've been slower than slow (I've finished last), I've been faster (for me). I only recently actually started trying to get faster.

As for your question on goals - it depends on the person. Personally, I've done better with running and training when I have a goal/race. Not everyone is like that.

I started running because I told myself I couldn't. I don't really have any stories. I started like many with c25k, then b210k and now working on a half marathon. I love it. it's a quiet space. It's a time where i can let things go and I can start the day with a feeling of accomplishment.
one story, falling is part of running, but I did fall in front of a busy restaurant. everyone saw. oh that was a sinking feeling.

I started running in high school. My hometown had 2 middle schools (7-9) that funneled into the same high school (10-12). My best friend and I both played football for different middle schools and I was excited to finally play with him in high school. He dropped football for cross country going into 10th grade and I actually switched from football to cross country (not even knowing what it was) the morning of the first practice because I would rather do something unknown with friends than something I loved alone. Another childhood friend had been doing cross country since 7th grade so I had a great core of friends in the sport from day 1. It worked out pretty well for me, I made varsity after the first or second meet and never let go of my spot. I fluctuated between being the 2nd/3rd fasted guy on the team.

Then I got fat and lazy during college and the first couple years out of school. I started running again in 2013 to help with losing weight and ended up checking off a bucket list item by completing a full marathon in 2014.

I haven't run very much this year because my knees are screaming for the next 2 days every time I run, so... that makes me sad. My family has a history of very poor knees (3 meniscus surgeries between my parents, my grandpa has had multiple knee replacements) and I beat them to hell as a kid with skateboarding (a lot of hard impacts), distance running and basketball (1 hyper-extension).

Running is a necessary evil

I love cycling and swimming. Running is meh...

I started running to be able to do shorter triathlons. I started slowly and was sensitive to knee stress.

I don't run often but run a 10K once a week minimum. I get my legs worked on the bike so the run is just to keep me at a base level of training thru the winter

I like less often running but longer run distances.

In March it will be back to 80 mile ride and 8 mile run. But only once a week to run that brick.

Some deal better with the high impact of running. I just don't enjoy more than a 5K for a morning run.

I know my limits

I've never been a runner. ANY amount of running made me feel ill and like my lungs would explode. But, I love to cycle and am good at that. Some friends wanted to do a sprint triathalon but I was busy and couldn't sign up. The next year I actually moved to the city the triathalon was hosted in, so I decided to train for it. And I was going on a Disney Cruise and they always do a 5k on Castaway Cay, so I decided I'd give running a try.

I started with a half of a mile. There's a park near my house with a half mile lap, so my first goal was to finish one lap. The next week was two laps, then three the next week, until I could make 6 laps without stopping. It got easier every week.

I did the 5k but the triathalon was canceled that year and the next. Hopefully they'll host one this spring, if they ever figure out the lake.

In the meantime, I've started doing sprint intervals on the treadmill at the gym before my spin class. I LOVE it. In fact, I dropped at 45lb plate on my toe in May and had to take several weeks off from running. I did continue spinning and was honestly jealous of the runners on the treadmill, and as soon as I felt better started running again. I NEVER would have thought that I would love running so much.

I had been a runner when I was young. Probably 21-28 years old. Did 5K and 10K races when I could afford them. Then some knee issues hit and the doc suggested I stop.
I stayed active. Lifted weights, cycling etc.

When I was about 45 I started walking a lot.One day I had done a 50 mile bike race and got tendinitis in my knee. I was having some X-rays done and the doc suggested it wasn't so much knee problems as hip problems. he suggested popping my hips before workouts, and wearing minimal, neutral, shoes.
I rested. The tendinitis healed.
Anyway, something about the doc saying it wasn't really my knees (well it is now due to wear and tear in my 20s, but wasn't initially). One day I was on the treadmill on a cold rainy day and I just started jogging. Did about 10 minutes. A few days later I did the same thing outside. Then I kept doing it.

I've been running 3-6 miles a few times a week for about the last 5 years give or take. No real issues. No knee pain. When I run on the treadmill I do it in socks. When I run outside I run in Brooks pure connect shoes. Minimal/neutral.

This past six months have been tough, with menopausal insomnia, and my running has suffered, but I do manage to get up and out there a few days a week. I aim for at least 40 miles a month, which isn't much, but I'm happy with it. And I don't care about my speed.

(I still do weight training)

lmjohnson110 wrote: »

I've never been a runner. ANY amount of running made me feel ill and like my lungs would explode. But, I love to cycle and am good at that. Some friends wanted to do a sprint triathalon but I was busy and couldn't sign up. The next year I actually moved to the city the triathalon was hosted in, so I decided to train for it. And I was going on a Disney Cruise and they always do a 5k on Castaway Cay, so I decided I'd give running a try.

I started with a half of a mile. There's a park near my house with a half mile lap, so my first goal was to finish one lap. The next week was two laps, then three the next week, until I could make 6 laps without stopping. It got easier every week.

I did the 5k but the triathalon was canceled that year and the next. Hopefully they'll host one this spring, if they ever figure out the lake.

In the meantime, I've started doing sprint intervals on the treadmill at the gym before my spin class. I LOVE it. In fact, I dropped at 45lb plate on my toe in May and had to take several weeks off from running. I did continue spinning and was honestly jealous of the runners on the treadmill, and as soon as I felt better started running again. I NEVER would have thought that I would love running so much.

Oh that is rough!

Cancelled your Tri!!

I would be sad...

My year end one won't get cancelled

There are lots of Sprints and a few Olympics here

I hope you are able to run some of them. The bug bites hard.

I got my first really good Tri bike. Super anxious to see how it helps my run transition.

I signed up for a 5k and started running a few months before it.

During the 5k, I was running for about 3 minutes, when I looked over at my friend and said "After this, I'm never running ever again."

And I never really did run again. Maybe like twice. Neither did she.

I started running in jr high school - because I had to. And I hated it, except for hurdles. And I was bad. So I stopped.

Then, in college I cycled, and running was a complement. Long slow loping thing. And I was bad, and I stopped.
Then in grad school, I lived in the woods, I was still bad, but I learned to love running and biking on trails.
Then I stopped.
When I began to travel, I restarted to run -- because I couldn't take a bike with me. And I stopped.
Running? I'm always starting and stopping.

I love how intense it can get once I get to a certain level, but before that it is such a drag.

I ran in high school, but not after, due to my bad knees. Then I tore my meniscus badly. They were not able to repair it so I have a quarter size hole of missing cartilage, which means arthritis pain in my knee. When I started this journey, lol, I was walking on my treadmill. After a bit, I began to jog a bit. Then I started jogging intervals, eventually running as much as 4 miles at a time (slowly!). Since I was losing and doing this slowly, my knee never hurt (any more than it ever does). One day I tried to run outside and it was AWESOME. Now I am obsessed with running outside. I haven't gone over 4 miles and my knee hurt this week from running too fast in high winds (I think my gait was off, which caused my knee to swell), so I had to go back to the treadmill. I love running. I think about getting in my run all day. I'm a runner now.