5 things I learnt from running

Lesson #3: Starting from zero with small steps

Welcome to Change, Logged, a weekly newsletter offering 5-minutes of honest thoughts about life, design, and everything in between.

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And one day, out of the blue, I started to run—simply because I wanted to.
- Haruki Murakami

My running journey started over five years ago, during COVID-19, when I was living in Berlin and my boyfriend convinced me to quit smoking and vaping, cold turkey.

That same day, like what Murikami had written in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, out of the blue, I decided to replace smoking with running. I laced up an old pair of worn trainers and headed downstairs on Czarnikauer Strasse. It would be a simple routine - 2 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking and then repeat, for as long as I could go.

Photo from Sporlab

The first km is just the prologue

The 2 minutes of running felt like forever, and the one minute of walking felt like seconds. I barely made it past 200 meters before my body felt like it was ready to collapse. I remember at least two runs when local Berliners approached me, thinking that I was having an asthma attack. When I explained that I had recently quit smoking, they said, “your lungs are learning to breathe again”.

When we try something new, it’s easy to give it one shot, feel the struggle, and decide it’s just not for us. Don’t quit, and commit yourself to a certain amount of time before rethinking. Give yourself enough time to really try.

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, founders of Airbnb, were deep in debt before their success. Michael Jordan was cut from every high school varsity basketball team but he still became one of the greatest athletes of all time.

How you start does not define where you end up. But if you don’t try properly, you will never know.

Consistency + focus + gradual scaling

For weeks, I kept at it – just 200 to 300 meters a day, slowly building a routine. Little by little, those metres turned into kilometres. On June 19th, 2020, I ran my first 5km with a brand new Apple Watch on my wrist. It was time to take it seriously and track my runs.

My first 5km: 37 minutes 27 seconds

Running is like work - if you focus on everything at once, you are just doing multiple things badly at the same time. The key is to pick one focus, build on it, and then layer the next time. At first, it was just about distance – 200 meters at a time, then I shifted my focus to trimming down my time. It was a big moment when I had progressed enough to work on my cadence, a sign that I had moved beyond just surviving the run.

Personal best 5km: 24 minutes 25 seconds (17 July 2022)

Not bad for an ex-smoker who never really ran or did much sports.

Discover what helps you thrive

Running taught me to experiment and pay attention to what sets me up for success and what holds me back. It empowers you to take control and choose your own path rather than relying on others or defaulting to the status quo.

I had tried running on tracks, trails in parks, roadside, and along the river, but the spot that worked best for me was George Square in Glasgow. It’s about 300m around the square, about 17 laps for 5km. I liked that it was like a 400m track but with the fun game of overtaking every tourist or local in my path.

After plenty of trial and error, I eventually created the perfect playlist to keep my pace in check. I also found my best conditions for my run, were 14 degrees, sunny with a light breeze. When the weather, music, track and my Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 37 all came together, the 5km felt much easier, so much so that I even run 10km (35 laps of George Square) a couple of times.

It’s all a mindset

The biggest limit we have are the limits we have in our minds. If you don’t believe something in possible, then you will most likely never achieve it. Not because you could not, but because you didn’t believe you could.
- Kris Safarova

When you approach things with a defeatist attitude, you’ve already lost. But too much confidence creates unnecessary pressure and disappointment. You don’t want either.

What you want is what Murakami mentions in his book about how runners often experience a kind of mental clarity, but with no specific thoughts, just an open mind. Looking back, I realised that the days when my mind was in that state, in flow, were the days I had my best runs. I was aware, but not completely fixated.

Always listen to your body

Progress is never linear, sometimes it is three steps forward, two steps back. There will be good days where you can push further and surprise yourself, but there will also be bad days. The best thing you can do is listen to your body, take a break, and try again the next day when you have recovered and feel stronger.

Sadly, I had to stop running not long after that due to regular patellar tendinitis. Still, I’m proud to say I’ve managed to stay away from nicotine.

Wrap up

1. Your beginning does not define your ending. Don’t give up right away.

2. Focus on one thing, start small and gradually build on it.

3. Experiment openly and find the things that help you thrive.

4. The right mindset is all that makes a difference.

5. Always listen to your body.

Running has taught me that talent is just one part of the equation. With consistency, perseverance and a healthy respect for your body, you can do things you never thought possible.

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For the curious reader

Books that inspired the thoughts on this page — and are worth a read:

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

• How Leaders Get Things Done by Kris Safarova, Vincent Samat, Alice Qinhua Zhou, Amish Thakkar, Kenneth R. Bertrand, Michael S. Tiu

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