I used to hate the very idea of running. Get me on a football pitch, basketball or tennis court and I would sweat for hours, but running alone?

Why? It’s boring and pointless, isn’t it?

Then I decided I wanted to lose weight, started cycling, then moved on to a push scooter, then I needed something more and I thought, why not get into something as boring as running… if so many people can do it, could I find a way to endure boredom and pain for longer than 2 minute stretches?

I train going out and running. And failed miserably… 2 minutes were actually an unreachable objective. I needed to learn the untold secret that can unlock running to ANYONE: pacing myself. Running is not sprinting, running is finding a pace you can sustain for the distance or time you want to go for

C25K, or Couch to 5K was what thought me how to do it. A tried and tested multi-week programme literally anyone can master. From there, after about 18 months, I ran my first marathon…

Anyone can learn how to run. And everyone will find different things to motivate themselves and keep progressing. For me it was quantified progress, stats, timed races, parkrun and run-tourism. Running is a competition against myself, other runners are friends on the same path, people on their own journey keeping each other company.

I don’t race against others, I race against myself. The person I was yesterday and the one I can be tomorrow

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fail.”

—Confucius