I am not a runner

“I am not a runner. I don’t run. I can’t run.” These are the words I have expressed time and again to friends, colleagues and family. I-AM-NOT-A-RUNNER. It’s amazing the influence our thoughts can have on us. How they can place such limits on us and to how we see ourselves. But have you ever stopped to fact check your thoughts? I recently found myself in a situation where I only had running as a source of exercise. And for those who know me well know that I love to exercise, I am an exerciser. It invigorates my body, mind and soul. But I am not a runner. So, I decided to start running and learned how to do it properly - with an app of course. At first, I hated it. Everything hurt and felt uncomfortable, tight. And slowly over the weeks and months, I found myself running, not once a week but every day. It’s now my favourite part of my day. That’s not to say I still don’t struggle, that I don’t want to stop halfway through or even before I have started. Do I still check my watch? Yes, absolutely. Do I still feel a sense of relief from when the man in my app tells me I am finished? Do I finish a sweaty tired mess, which leaves me wanting to nothing but sit on the couch and binge-watch something for the rest of the day? Yes. But I also feel joy, gratitude, and completely alive… I still have heaps of room for improvement. I am not sharing this as a humble brag or to make you feel bad for not exercising. We are all just trying to learn. Running is a skill, so is mastering our thoughts. And we are not our thoughts. Let’s be kind to ourselves (and to each other) while we learn...And yes, I am a runner.