3 January 2013 - First training run

So I pushed myself to get out the door today with my sneakers on and suitably "boppy" music pumping on my ipod. I pushed myself to complete my first run in the many I will have to complete before the Twilight Half Marathon on the 24th of March.

I ran 3km. And it burned. And I need to run 7 times that distance in just under 12 weeks. Why do I do this to myself?!

I'll tell you why.......

Because when you run; and you push through that threshold of physical and psychological pain - the one where your mind has given up on you and is telling you you can't, you won't do it - you realise that "you" are something so much more profound than just your mind; and that "you" have more strength than any one thought of yours ever will. And in that moment, you defeat every negative thought you've ever had about yourself, every time you've ever told yourself you can't. Because running through that threshold proves you can rise above it. And you will.

Because when I run I sometimes think about people who have lost limbs, or are suffering from terminal cancer, or who have been made immobile by their own depression. And I think I owe it to them and owe it to my body to use it for all it's capabilities. I am so lucky to have the choice to run. Who knows? One day that might be taken from me - and I would curse myself for not running every single day that I could.

Because I know that it is good for me, because endorphins provide a high better than any of the artificial substances we ingest to produce one, because it's something that our bodies were built to enjoy.

I run because I want to. Don't you want to run too?