Runners?

[lastlight]

I think there is something to good shoes. Mine are over 4 years old and I do battle bad shin splints in my left leg sometimes.

I personally feel that the more you think you have to prove the easier it is. Make stuff up in your head if you have to =) I was always the skinny kid until I moved out from home and it sorta sickens me how I got equally used to being the overweight guy in just 10 or so years. So you have something to prove to yourself and everyone that knows you're running. It's not showing off it's showing people (and most importantly yourself) what you're capable of.

I should mention I never smoked but I have been a lifelong junkfoodaholic. We're talking the big bags of chips in one sitting, fast food all the time etc. Every previous comeback I attempted I never kicked that habit. Both need to happen (at least moderation I still indulge).

I recommend runkeeper because we can be steet team members. Nothing motivates like knowing your buddy was out for a run =)

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I think there is something to good shoes. Mine are over 4 years old and I do battle bad shin splints in my left leg sometimes.

Absolutely!! I'll go through 3 pairs of shoes in a year. Once they get old, your legs are gonna suffer. Go to a running store and get real shoes for your foot posture. Wrong shoes and you'll just set yourself up for failure.

[lastlight]

Yeah I intend to Brad. I didn't have the money after all the other gear and didn't wanna trash new ones in the snow this winter but yeah these are ancient. I also just bought them years ago never pro fitted. I sure hope that will help with the splints when spring comes and I have the cash.

[Aquattro]

Brett, they'll really help with the shins. I spend about 130 on Mizuno brand, really light and comfy, like running in slippers. I then rotate. I get a new pair for running, recycle the recently used ones as daily drivers, and the old daily drivers go to the used shoes for african kids bin at the Running Room.
But get a pair that are specifically for running. When i started, I was heavier and the impact was tough on joints, so good shoes helps get past that a bit...

[Delphinus]

Oh man ... >4 year old shoes is a perfect recipe for more shin and knee discomfort... Get new shoes!! Small price to pay to protect your shins and knees..

[kien]

Lots of great stories and advice here! Everyone is different so we all have different methods to our maddness..
The take away theme though I think is that you need 3 key ingredients.

1. A motivating force to get you started. That could be your own personal will and desire to start, a family member, a race you've signed up for, a story, a goal or some bloke from a reefing forum.
2. Some way to measure your progress.
3. A motivating force to keep you going.

For myself I have run on and off over the past few years but have always lacked one of those ingredients so I frequently fell off the wagon. Last August I started running again because I was traveling so much for work which was very stressful. My fish tank was a zillion miles away so I needed a way to relieve that stress. One day I just decided to put on an old pair of running shoes and started running. I didn't run very far and it wasn't pretty but I wasn't training for anything so that was okay with me. I did this again a few days later and ran a little further. I took my shoes with me on my business trips and started running after work. Still not pretty, lots of huffing and puffing and I think the pedestrians were walking faster than I was running at times.

One day my wife said that I was getting faster. I was surprised because I wasn't tracking my runs so I had no idea. She just noticed that I was getting home sooner. I then decided to install a running app for my iPhone called RunKeeper. High recommend!! It is available for just about any smart phone out there. This was my ingredient number #2 that I was missing previously. I started to track every run and could easily see that I was getting faster and was running further. I still had no real goals set. I wasn't planning on running any races. It was just really cool to race against myself and pat myself on the back. You can see here that as I said, my first few runs were nothing to write home about.. http://runkeeper.com/user/Keener/activity/14376332.

After a while running became a chore and I was starting to lose motivation. Lucky for me that ingredient #3 came at the right time. Some fool on canreef was stalking me and watching my runs and started to run as well. They too tracked their runs with runkeeper and posted them. At first i was like, "okay, cool, he's running too." Then, the next thing I know the bastard goes and runs a half a marathon! That's a heck of a lot further than I have ever run. That motivated me to push my runs a little further.

So now I am stuck in an endless cycle. I go out for a run, feel good about myself only to see that my virtual running buddy has gone and run another half a marthon. Or, I'll be lazy and not run for a week only to see that he's run two half marathonds in that week! WTF?? So, I'll go out and crank out a 10K run in 50 minutes to show him who's BOSS!

To this day I still have no particular goals. I don't plan to race any marathons or half marathons. I just put on my shoes and run against myself, try to better my stats or chase my virtual running buddies. I never pictured myself as a winter runner because I absolutely hate the cold, but hey, if Brett can do it so can I :P

[Delphinus]

Yeah, good for you two guys for finding the magic to push yourself into running in the winter. I could not do it.

[DiverDude]

I own a gym. I deal with exactly your situation daily. As has been pointed out, motivation is key and everybody motivates themselves differently.

Perhaps the most important thing is discipline. If you don't have a lot of that, then fear is a good substitute. Fear that you won't be able to be there for your kids because you didn't take care of yourself properly !

The best thing you can do for yourself right now -even if you do nothing else- is quit smoking. That in itself is a HUGE factor. Do nothing else and you'll improve your health. Quit smoking AND start some kind of regular physical activity and you're really on your way to some noticeable improvements.

If running is going to be your activity then I'd suggest you start off easy. Get a pair of decent shoes and stop there -don't go nuts on fancy running clothes and Nike+ systems just yet. Try and run some distance 3 times a week for a month or so. Run outside if you can make yourself do it. Consider joining a gym if that's just too much for you. When you can run a kilometer without feeling like you're going to die (your time to complete is not important) then go join a running clinic at the Running Room or similar. This will teach you technique and give you like-minded people to share you runs with. There is a social/comraderie component here that is very powerful and should not be underestimated.

Most important, congratulate yourself for taking the initiative to take this on. It's not easy and you should pat yourself on the back for taking the first step, so to speak !

Reward yourself too. If you improve your running time, take some of the $ you're saving on smokes and buy something that makes you happy -reef stuff might be a good one !

If you want a goal to shoot for, I sponsor the Melissa Run in Banff and we try and take a bunch of people up for that. It's a 10K and half Marathon (go for the 10K first !!!)

You're more than welcome to come run with us. We have a good time and it's a beautiful run.

Good luck !!!

[Aquattro]

Get dogs. Lots of them. Then you have to run the dogs I have 4 dogs that get a rotation, each dog gets a 8k run at least once a week. If I get lazy, I have to pay for it with the dogs bouncing off the walls. Easy peasy

[Trabby]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Get dogs. Lots of them. Then you have to run the dogs I have 4 dogs that get a rotation, each dog gets a 8k run at least once a week. If I get lazy, I have to pay for it with the dogs bouncing off the walls. Easy peasy

LOL we have a dog... I took the pug out once and found it very counter productive..