I Hated Running and I Couldn't Run

Before 2009, I hated running and I couldn’t run even for a minute. I remember I skipped my PE class in high school when we had to run…

But sometime around 2009, I had this crazy thought “Maybe… I wanna be able to run…”

The reason was because, it seemed that all the book authors I liked or read their books, they were into triathlon. I have always loved reading business and self-development books, so to me, these authors are the “successful people.” Just like them, I wanted to be successful. Hence, I should try triathlon. Very simple lol But in order to do that, I gotta run.

The first thing I did was going to a bookstore lol because I’m a bookworm not an athlete. I went to their sports and fitness section and read a few books on how to start running. The common advice was, I should start from walking for 30 minutes first. From that day, I started a 30-min walk everyday. Back then, my first son was 3 years old or so, and the only free time I had was early morning. I remember waking up at 5am and going for a walk.

After I became comfortable walking for 30 minutes, I started fast-walking. As fast as possible for 30 min.

After I became comfortable fast-walking for 30 minutes, that’s when I finally started running… very slowly… almost as slow as my fast-walk. The very first day, I did my slow-jog for 1 minute and fast-walk for 29 min, then the next day, slow-jog for 2 minutes and fast-walk for 28 minutes. I continued this for 30days, and voila! on the 30th day, I was able to run for 30 minutes!!!

After that, it was easy to add the distance or time little by little.

This was the first time I felt the joy of running. I even started a weekly run event called Sunrise Sunday in which we started running from Nakanoshima Island in Osaka, along the river, then go to Osaka Castle and come back. That’s about 8K. My friend(s) and I met at 6:30am and run together, then had breakfast together.

I became more and more confident in running and I participated in a 5K race, a 10K race, then finally a half marathon. I think my time was like 2 hours and 20 minutes if I remember correctly (maybe not!) . I was ready to tackle a full marathon, but that was when I wanted to be pregnant with my second child, and I was receiving fertility treatment. The doctor recommended me to increase my body fat and not to run too much.

So, I still haven’t run a full marathon, not to mention triathlon, but it’s been my routine to run/ slow jog 2 or 3 times a week.

Since I lost my son last November, I hadn’t been so actively exercising, but after the 2020 Lunar New Year, I decided to get back to my regular exercise habit. Nowadays, I do run or walk at least three times a week. The other day I ran the longest distance in the past one year which was 7K, and it happened to be my fastest pace in the past one year which was 6’33’’ per km. This is a miracle for me who is a turtle runner lol

Exercise has been definitely helping me a lot to be resilient. I have moments when I feel down, but running regularly and physically challenging myself give me a sense of self-control and accomplishment.

If you’re also interested in running, but never liked running, I recommend you to start from walking first. I truly hated running. This makes me say, “If I can do it, you can do it.” Please try.