Why I run?

When I ask people why they run, or pose the question to people thinking of starting to run I hear the following:

‘It’s good for my health’, ‘I want to lose weight’, ‘I want to tone up’ or even ‘To give me some base fitness for my other sports’. Whilst these are all true, there are some other especially important reasons why we should all ‘want’ to run, after all we were all ‘born to run’.

Running is an escape; you might feel you have nothing to escape from until you try it. It gives you that peace, time for reflection and time to forget about the daily stresses’ life throws our way. I will not go as far to say that running solves our problems, but it certainly puts them on hold. While you run, you cannot do anything about those dirty dishes, you can’t respond to that next out of hours work email and you don’t have to answer the door to the next salesman that rings the bell. All the ‘stuff’ we must do just does not get done for the time we are away. Furthermore, the run energises us for when we get back, then we have more motivation to continue with our daily chores! I am certainly more fun to be a round after a run, glass half empty becomes glass half full!

Running is a form of meditation, a chance to focus on breathing, pace, and technique. This will not only allow us to improve in our running but also gives us boosts of energy. Also, being at one with nature gives us more chance to escape and make those miles easily pass by.

Apart from all the cardio gains that running brings to improve your health, running builds stronger bones and lowers blood pressure. So, whether you are passing the miles by through chatting to friends or observing our gorgeous world, you will be giving life to your body.

All the above will not only impact your fitness, but it will also inevitably improve your self-esteem. Setting yourself small achievable goals to work towards, not only keeps that motivation high, but also allows you to recognise just what good you are doing by taking to this great sport.

After all of this, it will be time for sleep. Your body can take advantage of the fact that a good run in the day encourages higher quality sleep.

I am not trying to persuade you to run, I am simply saying you have the choice. Its available to us all. Many of us simply just do not know where to start and that is where Run 4 U and Perform training plans come in. With tailored and structured training plans you will not only feel confident, you are doing the right running sessions and progressions; you will see that you can also enjoy running!

*Please comment below the reasons why you run…*