I'm 40. I started running at 36. It wasn't fun. It wasn't rewarding. I like to climb rocks and wanted to improve and running was a means to an end. To get fitter. To endure 20 -30 minutes of pain. Because if I could do that while running along the pavement I could cope with that feeling halfway up a rock face.
In 2007 I broke my heel pretty badly in a climbing accident. Running came after this and partly due to the extremely negative prognosis I was given by medical staff in hospital I wanted to do more than I had beforehand. Become a better climber. Run rather than walk with a limp as I had been told to expect.
In the beginning I could just about manage two very painful miles. Four miles seemed impossible. Slowly though something began to happen. I improved. I ran further. It still hurt.
At some point though I started to find I was enjoying myself. I was somehow becoming "a runner". Worse still, the more I ran the further I wanted to go. Six miles, then ten, then thirteen.
I'm still improving, getting faster, getting fitter, running further. I no longer think "I can't", instead "I know I can - provided I make the effort". That's what it comes down to. there is no limit to how far anyone can run. It's just down to whether you can be bothered to make the effort to do so.
There is a lot of information out there on how to get into running. I'll be trying to bring some of that info together here over the next few weeks and months.
Kind of middle aged, average runner shares his experiences with the world. Of course probably no-one is reading this but it keeps me off the streets.
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