Exercise has been a part of my life from a young age. I am not from one of those super fit families where everyone competes in triathlons together, or expects D1 scholarships out of all of the kids. However, I was introduced to the sports that I will spend my life doing at an early age. When I was just four my parents signed me up for skating lessons. The rest is history. It consumed my life from middle school on. I was constantly working towards my next competition and working to land new jumps.
In 6th grade, I started running to cross train for skating. However the running took on a life of its own in high school. I ran on the cross country team all four years, varsity for three of them. By senior year I was captain of the team. Despite this, I still saw running as a way to fill the lull I usually had in my skating season from August through October.
Freshman year of college, I really didn’t exercise much. Sure, I joined the figure skating club on campus (which I am still actively involved in) but scheduling conflicts, the limited ice time at Geneseo, and the high cost of ice time and coaching at home has left me few opportunities to skate. Skating will always be a part of my life, as I am able to continue through coaching the next generation of skaters. However, it’s left a considerable void as far as exercise goes.
At the beginning of last year, I was having a particularly rough and stressful day when some friends of mine convinced me to go to the gym and to do yoga with them. I went into the gym frazzled and distressed. I left feeling calm and ready to take on the next day’s challenges. Suddenly it clicked, the lack of scheduled exercise in my life was letting in a lot of stress and negative emotions that were dragging me down and making it harder to function in my daily life.
While I continued going to the gym all year, coming home for the summer posed some new challenges, How was I going to continue working out when gym memberships are expensive and there’s no gym within a 15 minute drive of my house? (I know, I live in the middle of nowhere). Getting back into running was the best option I had. I am so grateful I decided to make it a habit this summer. So grateful, in fact, that I want to tell people about my experience in hopes of getting a few more people out there and running.
Why running?
Running is the easiest form of exercise to just pick up. No one needs to teach you how. You don’t need fancy equipment or an expensive venue for it. All you need is some clothes you can move in and some sneakers. You can also run anywhere! Around the neighborhood, around the block, around the local high school or college track, on a treadmill, on a trail, anywhere! It is also easy to see improvements. If you can run a little farther than last or improve your time by a few seconds, it’s rewarding. Also, exercise in general produces endorphins in the brain. These feel-good chemicals can reduce stress and even treat symptoms of anxiety and depression in some people. Exercise does not only have to be about “getting in shape” or getting thinner or some other more superficial reason. Forming a regular exercise routine can be a huge act of self love. Exercise is a way to celebrate your body and all the amazing things it can do. It takes some time out of the day to focus on yourself, clear your mind, and relieve the tensions of daily life.
How Do I Stay Motivated?
For some, the idea of self care or the commitment to a routine might be enough, but for others, some other motivation might be in order. I downloaded the Nike+Run club app. The app includes guided runs by running experts that might help ease in beginners and help longtime runners alike. However, you can just go on unguided runs if you prefer that. All of your runs are tracked and logged so you can look back on your progress. The app gives you achievements when you improve your times for various distances. You can also join challenges with people from around the world to run a certain amount of miles in a particular month or week. Also, add friends and see how much they are running. The little achievements may not seem like much, but they were enough to keep me going. There are plenty of run and exercise tracking apps to choose from though, and many of them are free to download. Signing up for a race is another way to keep moving. A race is a tangible goal to work towards. The internet has plenty of training programs for beginners (for example, couch to 5k). I ran a 5k this summer with a friend who also has been trying to get back into running. We were able to keep each other motivated on our training and celebrate our achievements on race day.
Perhaps you prefer some other activity, or a pre-existing injury or disability prevents you from running. Don’t let that discourage you! There are PLENTY of other ways to get active. Try cycling or swimming. Maybe sign up for a bootcamp style class or Zumba. If none of these work for you, there are so many workouts that you can do equipment-free and at home on the internet (personally, I like the YouTube channel MadFit). Essentially, my point is that is doesn’t matter how you get your body moving, only that you do. Your mind, body, and spirit will thank you in the long run (if not ON a long run).
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