Photo credit: Just Run Lah

There are probably a couple of accomplishments you’ve made thus far. You might not have noticed them, but they’re definitely worth celebrating.

You went ahead to register for your first race and to some extent, you’ve made some investment into this new promise you made. Commitment to effort is an admirable trait that many runners, beginner and experienced alike, possess. You mastered the first trait – you try.

You headed out for a morning run. That’s amazing! Especially if you’ve never worked out in the morning before, or you’re usually a late riser. You’re probably beginning to realise what good it’s been doing to your mental alertness and focus throughout the day. That takes some amount of planning, and of course, discipline.

You kept to your resolve and packed a gym bag to work. During lunch or before heading home after work, you went for a quick run out in the city. That’s impressive because running later in the day usually means more excuses has piled up – the weather looks bad, the traffic is heavy… but you didn’t relent! That’s good effort on your part.

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You have started reading a couple of running blogs and googled “training plan online for free.” Browsing through, you might have came across a pretty legitimate plan, that seems marginally feasible to follow through with. And you did. Today is speed play, or intervals, or hill sprints, and painful as it is, you stuck to it. There is a training plan and you remained focused on it.

Thing is, running can be a long journey. Training for a half-marathon can take up to 16 weeks to do so safely; and training for marathons can take about 6 months! After your first race, there’s the challenge of beating your PB. You’d also come to realize that there’s a lot to learn about the sport – from what types of nutrition are best for your body to what kinds of strength training would benefit runners most.

In this journey you may or may not be just discovering, remember to celebrate every small achievements you’ve made. They’re yours, be proud of them!

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