Do You Remember Your First Time…

Running that is.  Get your minds out of the gutter.  I was thinking about this today on my drive home from my parents.  Now I’m not talking about the first time you ran laps around the gym in high school or college.  That doesn’t count.  No, I’m talking about the first time you went for a “run”.  The nerves, the anticipation and the feeling when you were actually going.  Do you remember?

I do.  I’ll never forget it.  I was fresh out of college and trying to get over the burn out I was feeling after participating in sports my entire educational career.  I could barely must enough motivation to go to the gym and when I did go, I wasn’t very productive.  I just felt like there was something missing.  I wish I could remember who recommended it but the idea of a “run” was brought up.  Up to this point, the longest run I’d ever done was the 1 mile time trial that I had to do each week to qualify to play ball each week.  It was essentially punishment so the thought of recreational running seemed comical but I decided it was worth a shot.

So with no preconceived notions about what I was about to do, I set out.  No music, no GPS, just me and the road.  I did a 5 minute walk warm up and then just went.  I started running and found myself loving the consistency of each step.  After about 10 minutes, I had found a groove and was loving it and I haven’t stopped running since.

The reason I bring it up is that sometimes we get ourselves so involved in training for the next race, timing intervals or running hills, that we forget about the enjoyment that made us want to start in the first place.  Feeling like you need a little pick me up?  Take a trip down memory lane and remind yourself of your “first time”..