Or, things I wish I had known when I started out…

As I (at time of writing) enter the last week of my self-prescribed training plan for the 2024 Brno half-marathon, I’m reflecting on my experiences of running as a fitness method and on/off hobby.

For someone who was never athletically inclined or into any sports during my school years, it sometimes still catches me by surprise that I am signing up to events like this at all.
Yet here I am, poised to (hopefully!) complete the 4^th half-marathon race event in my life, not to mention the training runs building up to this distance, in preparation for the day.

(UPDATE: I’ve since written a kind of ‘race retro’ following this run, you can read more about it HERE)

In case you don’t know or can’t be bothered to open another window to find out – a full marathon length is 42 kilometers or 26.2 miles, making a half-marathon 21 kilometers or 13.1 miles.

Given my varying level of fitness over the years, my finishing times for a ‘half’ are between 2hours 30 mins and 2 hours 5 mins (personal best!).

I’ve mentioned it before that I wouldn’t consider myself to be a ‘natural’ runner – between the inherited asthma and seasonal hay-fever, some days it feels like a real battle and I think to myself ‘why do I keep doing this?’

So why am I writing this?

To brag on the internet to the handful of people, at best, who will read this?

No, that is not my intention and I hope not to come across as that vainglorious.

Rather, I suppose to share my feeling that if I can manage to do this, anyone can. I really do believe that any able-bodied person could start running as a pastime or exercise if they choose to, and can find some benefit it it.

To that end, here’s my top tips or things I wish I had known (or realised) when I started running.

Start out slow

A personal anecdote

When a friend and I decided we would go out for a run during our second year at university it was such an odd occurrence, looking back.
A girl we knew already ran for sport, and had entered a 5k event the previous year when we lived in halls of residence (dorms). We were both baffled, and laughed.
People did that?
What, so you all just get together in one place and ‘leg it’ a short distance at once?

Then one dark evening, with no real reason behind it, we both decided this would be a good idea.

So we changed into what we thought would be appropriate clothing (more on that later):
One long-haired, death metal fan in very baggy tracksuit trousers with a blue cotton t-shirt (of a shade I could never have imagined he would own), completed with some beat-up trainers that looked remarkably out of place where muddy hiking boots usually appeared at the bottom of his legs…
And one pale, lanky teen in a mud-brown zip-up hoody, paired with shiny Diadora gym shorts.

Out the front door and into the semi-blackness of a Kent night, the mismatched pair flew, running hell-for-leather with no clear direction in mind or even a very good bearing of their surroundings.

The errors

I’m not sure we were running ‘as hard as we could’ but we certainly had no concept of warm up or pacing, we just took off flailing through the less-than-glamorous industrial estate which our rented student house backed onto.

I can’t imagine what it must have looked like to any unlucky onlookers; perhaps as if we were chasing some unseen attacker who had stolen the rest of our clothing, or like two drunken bums who had looted the contents of a clothing donation bin on a particularly empty night and were fleeing the scene of the crime…

I think we got about 2 streets away before we staggered to a stop, and both admitted to having a stitch. As we looked at eachother, and our surroundings, the reality of our ill-preparedness dawned on us and we ambled back to the house (or where we thought the house was, roughly, not really knowing where we had gone) not even having the energy to attempt a ‘jog’.

The point

…to this slightly-ridiculous story is that, running is a very simple activity – one foot in front of the other, like walking, but faster. However, just taking off running like lunatic probably won’t make you feel particularly good, or inclined to keep going.

To start with

I suggest just picking an area you know well, putting on some comfortable clothing, and setting off at a brisk walking pace for a minute or two. You’ll start to feel warmer as your muscles work faster (you know, warming up!) so assuming you feel fine, break into a light jogging pace. Keep that up for a few more minutes and decide what YOU feel like the next step is.
How does you body feel?
Do you want to stop or do you think you could go a bit faster/longer?
If you feel tired and want to stop, do you think you could manage to keep going instead if you slowed down a bit?

I think listening to your body is really important, especially when you are starting out or making a change. Pushing yourself and being determined is a good thing, but if you ignore your body’s warning signs and don’t build up your stamina/capabilities gradually, you can risk injury – even with something as simple as going for a run.

Take it easy to start with, even if it feels like it’s not ‘hard enough’ at first, and build yourself up a little more each time.

Plan, but don’t over-think

You can probably imagine, after the previous story, that my friend and I were not overly keen to go running again for a while – but we’d kicked off something in our heads, and kept coming back to the idea on and off.
“the problem is, we live too close to a main road…”
“What we should do is, start from the campus and take it from there…”
“Maybe next time, we should drive up to the park first…”

Every now and then we’d end up looking at the local area on Google maps, or it’s early-2000s competitor, and throwing up suggested places to go. And then somewhere to go via.. And then how to make it a circular route to get back to the start…

In the end we didn’t really go anywhere, until we moved house the next year and lived right by a set of fields, at which point there was no excuse not to use the resources on our doorstep.

There are an unlimited number of resources, plans, tools, articles and tips on the internet for starting a new hobby or activity, no more so than the fundamental process of moving the human body from point A to point B using it’s own mobility, at an increased speed (aka running).

You can lose yourself in comparing training plans, tactics for finding the perfect pace or running stride, lists of metrics you should track and consider as your benchmark for success… and in the end feel more exhausted or confused than if you’d just laced up your trainers and jogged back and forth up your own street.

What am i getting at…

If you’re just getting started with running, I would encourage you to only concentrate on super simple basics in terms of a plan – and then learn by doing.

To start with, you only really need to be aware of your surroundings (are you safe? Will you be at risk of constantly hitting people, objects or traffic?) and have an idea of where you are (how will you get home/back to the start if there’s a problem?) or where you are going (is there a rest stop along the way if you’re tired/need the toilet? Can you fallback on another form of transport if needed?)

That’s about it!
If you consider these factors, it doesn’t matter if you give yourself a distance goal as well, or want to follow a set routine like ‘couch to 5k’, or would prefer to just head out and see how it goes – you should feel confident that your run will be a ‘success’.

All the gear, no idea

That’s a phrase I’ve borrowed from a former co-worker and I’m sure you’ve known someone like this in the past: Decides on a new hobby or pursuit, goes out and buys all new ‘stuff’ to do it, and hardly uses it – maybe we’ve all done it at some point?!

One of my favourite things about running – if I self-identify as a penny-pinching Scotsman – is that you really don’t need to go out and buy any fancy equipment to get started.

Of course, you can spend your whole pay check on these trainers, that watch, the latest moisture-wicking tops… but it’s not going to suddenly make you into a shredded athlete.

I didn’t actually fall into this trap when I started out on my ‘journey’ of running as a pastime, but as you can probably tell from the first story, I didn’t exactly have a good idea of what I did need to ‘succeed’ on a run. Nowadays I’ve got a good mix of items that mean I feel prepared for most weathers I’ll encounter in my familiar, European settings – and for different distances depending on what I think I will manage on a given day, but I built the collection up over time and none of it was particularly expensive.

The first, most basic thing is a comfortable set of trainers

Now, whole articles and even dedicated websites have been written on choosing these – but stop right there. Don’t fall down that particular rabbit-hole!

If you’re really just starting out and you don’t know if you will stick with this or not, pick shoes that are not completely worn out, that have some support around your heel/ankle, and that do not pinch or rub anywhere.

Maybe you’ll want to treat yourself to a dedicated pair of running shoes later, or at the start to motivate you to go out and use them – and that’s fine – but for a beginner, I feel like comfort is king. If you can build yourself up to times like 30mins or distances like 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) consistently in your shoes, without any aches, blisters or pains (including up through your legs/back) then you’re probably doing fine.

The first 10k event I ever did was in an old pair of Skechers.
I’m sure, from the very few articles I’ve read, that running pros would roll their eyes at this as the brand caters towards fashion and comfort with their memory-foam insoles, but I didn’t care. They fitted, they were comfortable, and I finished the event.

If you do get a few blisters on your feet at first, that can be normal as the softer skin on your feet is put under pressure it’s not used to, and those can be treated. Consistently getting them in the same places though, or noticeable pains when you’re out, can be a sign that you need a different or better fitting (not necessarily expensive!) set of shoes to run in.

Maybe there will be a follow-up later on picking some shoes (head over to the Contact page and leave me a comment if this is something you want to read), although i’m no expert myself, I just try to learn what I like over time.

Beyond that, you only really need to think about dressing for your setting.

Tops and t-shirts shouldn’t be overly tight and cause and rubbing/chaffing.

For ladies, I’m told that a good-fitting sports bra is one of the best investments you can make (to be honest, I’ve known a few guys who could benefit from taking that advice too).

If it’s cooler/cold out – layers are your friend and a very basic beanie hat and thin gloves will feel like a blessing.

I prefer a pair of cycling shorts as a base layer (substituted for longer ‘tights’ when it’s cold) with a pair of regular sports shorts over the top, both for the benefit of their pockets (zip-up ones are the gold star!) and to protect my **ehem** modesty – I don’t need to be that spandex guy…

Underwear? Well, that’s personal preference. Again, you want to prevent chaffing from rubbing anywhere, hence the cycling shorts, and fellas you might want to consider an option which… kind of…keeps everything in place…?

Aside from the cycling shorts, I suspect most people would have the majority of these items around the home already, and when you’re starting out, the less blockers you have to just getting out the door and trying it out, the better. Don’t give yourself excuses not to go, if you’re thinking about it (oh I need to buy a pair of those… or a new one of that…) if you can, just make do for now and get a few minutes or kilometers under your belt!

We can discuss fitness trackers, apps and music another time, but as the most basic of basics – these should do you just fine to see if you want to give this ‘exercise thing’ a try.

So that’s it

A few things I learnt the stupid way, which may seem like common sense but I wish I could tell my younger self at the time to kick-start my first steps into running.

If you want to read more articles like this, or see some recommendations on what is filling my perpetual-beginner’s wardrobe of running gear, drop me a comment or message.

For now, good luck, get out there, and don’t be afraid to be ‘average’ at running!