There’s a big joke in the aquatics world that “swimmers don’t run.” Growing up as a swimmer, I always swore that there was no way that I would ever get into running…even after watching both of my parents run marathons. But these past six months, that promise has flown right out of the window. Now, I’m training for my first half-marathon, which is in just under three weeks!
This transition kind of came out of nowhere for me. Being in college this past couple of years, it has been a major struggle for me to make time to exercise, and it feels like that’s the thing that always slips through the cracks. But growing up playing water polo and swimming, where exercise was a daily thing for me, that adjustment was weird for me. The lack of exercise made me more stressed and flustered, not to mention the toll it had on my self-confidence and body image.
I was looking for something to force me into exercising again, just like daily swim practices had done for me for years. So, when my mom asked me to run a half-marathon with her, I agreed. I thought, “why not, how hard can it be?” Little did I know just how hard it would be.
Running is hard. Basically the whole time that I’m doing it, I hate it. My body hurts, I’m thirsty and tired, and sweating more than I ever thought was possible. The whole time I’m just thinking about how close I am to being done, whether I’m running two miles or nine.
Now, I know that this probably would not inspire you to start. Why would you want to be miserable for two hours? And here’s my answer: the feeling when you are finally done, when you hit your goal and can throw your arms up in excitement, is probably one of the best feelings out there. Seriously, nothing can beat it.
And not only does it feel fantastic in the moment, you feel great for the rest of the day. It feels so nice to have completed something, and will put you in a good mood for the rest of the day (even if you are also tired). It’s such a good excuse to get yourself a little sweet treat, because you just think that you really deserve it (and you definitely do). Also, a humble brag that you ran ten miles never hurt anyone in my opinion.
But those feelings really aren’t why I’ve been encouraging people to start running. Don’t get me wrong, those feelings are great, and such a nice perk. But the one thing I have truly taken out of my running journey (and will definitely start to apply to other areas of my life too) is that I know that I can push myself, and do the really hard things.
I know, this sounds so cheesy. “You can do hard things” sounds like it should be printed in a generic font and hung in a counselor’s office. But as cheesy as it sounds, it honestly has been such an important lesson, and something that I really needed to prove to myself. And something that has honestly meant a lot to me to learn, it seemed like it was exactly the thing that I needed to prove to myself right now.
Because even though running is hard, hard enough to feel like giving up, I know that I can get through it, and accomplish what I set out to do. And although that isn’t always how life works, it helps me to know that I can always work hard in whatever I choose to do, and not give up no matter how hard it gets or how it ends up turning out.
And so, if you think this is something that you also need to prove for yourself, I would say to put some sneakers on and just head outside for a run. I promise, even though it’s hard, you can absolutely do it.