The 26 Stages Of Taking Up Running

1. Your first reaction to running? No thanks.

2. When colleagues tell you abut their next charity 5K you’re like:

3. That’s not to say you haven’t tried.

4. Besides, you’ve got your Zumba class.

5. But there’s a feeling niggling away at you. What harm could it do to give it one last shot?

6. You pull together what seems like a good outfit and head for the park.

7. As you take your first steps, this is how you imagine yourself.

8. But actually, you look like this.

9. When you finish your first lap.

10. You colllapse onto a park bench. Pinterest lied!

11. Cramps. Oh lord. The cramps.

12. But you pick yourself up again.

13. You next run is slightly less painful.

14. You invest in better gear.

15. And you begin to track your progress.

17. You start to take pleasure in the smallest things.

18. You suddenly know everything about carb loading.

19. And this is bookmarked in your browser.

20. You get a little TMI with non-runners.

21. And you know more about the anatomy of the foot that you thought possible.

22. You flip if you can’t find this.

23. And you fear hitting the wall on a race day.

24. It’s hard to explain the happiness that a new P.B. gives you.

(Even if you didn’t know what P.B. was two months ago.)

25. But you know that you don’t need to be fast to be a runner.

26. You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.