simple running

I quite enjoy running. I’ve been an on/off runner for the last ten years I suppose. It probably started around the last time I was a member of a gym getting fed up with the membership prices, then seeing others running around the neighbourhood with all the freedom you could believe.

I wanted that.

And I’ve had it. But it comes in bursts of enthusiasm before petering out. If i were forced to put a label on it, I’d say I was a summer runner, finding it much more difficult to pull my running gear on when it’s blowing a gale outside in the black of a winter’s morning. But even that description isn’t quite right either. I’ve managed to lose my enthusiasm in the middle of long summer months, and reduce my running efforts to once or twice a week, before dropping them completely.

But I’m not a fool. I know that exercise is good for me. Especially so for someone who spends so much time sitting down in his day job; I need to get off my butt and lose a few calories. So, I’ve decided that from today, I’m starting running again.

Now what website should I use to track my runs? What mobile app should i use on my iPhone to keep me motivated? What’s the best music to get me through hard stretches?

Those were seriously the first things I thought of. Not how great it will be to get some fresh air on my own, or won’t it be nice to be able to eat without feeling quite so guilty. It’s sad isn’t it? But once I thought a bit more I realised it was these same things that are meant to motivate, that are actually holding me back. I want to go for a run. I don’t want to enter a marathon. I want to be alone with my thoughts. I don’t want to listen to some dance tracks with a good running beat. i want to put my running shoes on, and be out the front door in five minutes. Not faffing around the house, grabbing my iPhone, making sure the app is running, stopping when a GPS signal is lost, getting home and uploading, then following a rigid training plan.

No. i don’t want to do that. So I’ve decided not to.

I’m going to run. Simply. Run.