Tag Archives: running

An Amateur’s Guide to Running Well

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Image-of-woman-running-on-path-with-green-trees-and-hedges

I have a confession to make. I used to hate exercise (quelle surprise!). I’m sure I’m not alone in the way that even thinking about lifting a set of dumbbells can bring out the cold sweats, not to mention the sounds of the dreaded school Beep Test (pure nightmare fuel if you ask me). So as soon as I could escape the obligation of high school gym class, I avoided anything above a leisurely walk like the plague. It wasn’t the healthiest idea, but then again, neither is high school gym class. But this isn’t going to be a blog post about how to steer clear of lifting, squatting, or crunching. This is going to be a post about beginning by accident, all the dumb mistakes you can make along the way, how to avoid them, and how to embrace exercise in the way only a newly enthusiastic amateur can.

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Pound that Pavement!

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Book Cover of Jog On by Bella MackieWhether you’ve been hitting the trails or pounding the pavement, it’s gotten plenty warm enough that you’ve probably noticed the uptick in the number of runners out and about – perhaps you’re one of them yourself! I’m a bit of an unlikely candidate to be writing this post; personally, running has never been my sport of choice (give me a pool or a clean lake any day of the week!) but 2020 made me turn to it more as basically my only consistent option for cardio that also allowed me to not feel guilty about being physically outside of the house. So for all the rest of you who also either 1) do what is known as running, but kind of hate it and don’t really think of yourself as part of the group that would call themselves “runners” per se; or 2) find the very thought of running intimidating and why would anyone do that to themselves – you’re in good company! Which means, if I could learn to not hate my runs – sometimes even enjoy them and think of them as fun (and I’m not even dripping with sarcasm here) – I’m going to go ahead and make this irresponsible claim: you can too. Thank you for coming to my TED talk*. Don’t hold me to it and don’t hold me responsible for whatever happens.

Now that we’ve established running’s wonderful and all, let’s take a look at how you can get started, run faster or for longer distances, or otherwise get inspired to think of running from a different perspective. I’ve also got some alternative titles for those of us who might have tender knees and joints, or just might otherwise not be up for running but would still love to hit up the trails and go for a hike!

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