I hate running. If you’ve ever spoken to me, you would know that I do not enjoy cardio, and if you told me a year ago that I would be running on the treadmill more than once a week, I would have told you that you were crazy. I guess that’s the funny thing about life though, nothing is set in stone.

The reason that I’ve reluctantly picked up running in 2023 is because I want to do a sprint triathlon (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) before I turn 30. I know that I have swam that distance in the past, I feel like I can bike that far, but I genuinely did not know until recently if I could actually run an entire 5km. It took me a couple weeks of jogging semi-regularly on the treadmill before I had the courage to try, but yes, I can run that far, albeit at a not-so-fast pace. I did a 5km run again today, and the progress since January was really encouraging! I mean, I would still love to get my time under 30minutes, but baby steps. I didn’t collapse after this run, so I’ll take it.

Anyways, it’s helped me a lot to listen to podcasts while I run. I quite like Ologies with Alie Ward, and I’ve also listened to a decent amount of speech therapy themed podcasts as well. It’s very nerdy of me, I know, but it keeps my brain from thinking about the actual running part, so it works pretty well. I know some people prefer music, but my musical taste leans to the mellow side, and it’s hard to feel pumped up listening to an acoustic singer-songwriter.

If there is a moral to this story, I guess it would be that hard things seem less scary when you start small. It turns out that if you run more often, it starts to suck a little less. Who knew? Are there challenges in your life that you have been putting off? What’s something you could try to take that first step?

Until next time, happy crafting!