One piece of advice if you hate running.
Running was always something I hated ever since I was a child. I’d try to find every opportunity to skip my PE classes, dreading another mile run around the school or the next fitness test. Every game of tag with my cousins would just be over once I get to be “it”.
I didn’t really think of it as an issue up until I met my boyfriend, who, ironically, loves fitness. And believe my shock when he announced that he wants to run a marathon. So, as a loving girlfriend who must support him, I had to seriously change my attitude towards running because every run with him would just end up with me being out of breath and basically passing out.
And while my friends would try to teach me how to run, the problem with me wasn’t my physical abilities — I mean running is a pretty straightforward activity. It was more about my mental state while I was running. I’d think of how hard it is, how I want to stop and just lie down. I just needed to overcome my thoughts and focus my attention on something else.
As a kid, every time I’d get injured on the playground, my uncle would jokingly say that if I want to stop the pain where it hurt, I need to bite my finger so I’d think about my finger instead. While this sounds like silly advice, it kind of made sense — if you want to stop thinking of something that makes you uncomfortable, just distract yourself.
That’s why decided to try combining running with something I actually enjoyed — stories. The answer was so simple and it matched the timing perfectly — many books were getting recorded in the audio format and podcasts were on the rise. It was the best way for me to entertain my mind. I’d stop thinking of how hard I was panting and just focus on listening to the story.
At first, it was a little weird, because I didn’t have the means to subscribe to services like Spotify or Audible. That’s why I’d just download videos of my favorite YouTube shows or stand-up comedy, which I love, and just listen to them while I run — it was funny sometimes seeing people stare at me as I quietly chuckled at another Trevor Noah joke in my earphones.
For some reason, when I tell my friends that I like listening to interviews and comic shows while running, not many of them think of it as normal. They mostly prefer listening to music because it gets them in the right mood, whereas for me, music makes me think more of my difficulty running. But I guess to each their own.
As time passed, I discovered Google Podcasts which opened my eyes (and ears) to some really fascinating shows, varying from fictional stories to business interviews to podcasts about relationships and sex. And the fact that I’m trilingual allowed me to explore podcasts in different languages and on cultural topics.
Listening to all these talks and interviews just made me feel more productive — as if I’m one of those people from famous self-development books like “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” or “The Miracle Morning”. And I didn’t mind that — I felt more accomplished and confident about the day ahead because I got to exercise physically and mentally.
Right now, my choice falls to the classics and I’m listening to Harry Potter books voiced by Stephen Fry. It’s just captivating listening to stories about Harry’s magical battles with frightening dementors while running on a cold snowy field.
Speaking of Stephen Fry — as it appears, he also likes listening to audiobooks while doing his daily exercise. Who knew?
This experience just shows that if there’s something that you don’t like doing, add some fun to it and adjust to your liking. Exercise is not supposed to be dreadful, but something enjoyable and motivating. And I hope that my little story will help you enjoy running as much as I do now.
