From 0 to 500km in 4 Months 🏃‍♂️

“Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest” Haruki Murakami

While there are many benefits to remote work, a clear downside is that you can quickly become sedentary if you’re not cautious. To prevent my daily activity from being limited to walking from my bed to my desk, I started running. Running was not entirely new for me. I was somewhat used to running in the past, whether as a warm-up when I played sports or on Sunday evening jogs with friends. However, I had never run by myself. 500 kilometers later, I decided to take the time to reflect on my journey and share what I learned.

Just Get Out There & Run 🏃‍♂️

There’s an infinite number of obstacles and excuses which could prevent you from running. The main obstacle you’ll have to overcome (at the risk of sounding cliché) is yourself. It’s so easy to find excuses — you’re tired, busy, don’t have time, the list goes on… It’s pretty amazing how self-convincing the mind can be when finding excuses. Think about the difference between when you set your alarm clock before going to sleep and when you end up waking up in the morning after snoozing it 3 times.

Therefore, you should do as much as you can to remove those obstacles. A good tip I used was preparing my running clothes before I went to bed (if I ran in the morning). I would also recommend having comfortable running equipment (shoes, shorts, sweatpants, sweatshirt), anything where you feel just comfortable wearing them, and you almost want to wear them and get going.

One of the best things about running is the state you’re in once you’ve finished running. To push me when I’m less motivated, I like to think about that state, and it helps to get me going.

Find Your Rhythm 🎼

Once you’ve started running, it’s essential to find your rhythm. In the beginning, I mistakenly adopted a pace that was too high: (4:30–4:45mins/km). By running at this pace, I was wasting way too much energy, and after 3km, every step felt like a real challenge. While this is not an issue in itself, it prevented me from enjoying the run and sustaining my effort on longer distances.