Contrary to popular belief, people who run (called “runners” regardless of whether they sprint-like-a-gazelle or huff-and-puff-and-just-put-one-foot-down-after-another), do not always go on autopilot to get up and run every other day. Nor do many of us are pure athletes and are paid for our love of the sport. Most of us keep a day job, where it would appear that we don’t have time to run. But like most things in life, “when something matters most to you, you find ways to do it; when they don’t, you find excuses.”
Here, ladies and gentlemen- are my top 5 excuses NOT to run.
1. I don’t look like a runner.
I used this excuse for the longest time. I was in a very negative headspace, where I know I was ballooning but refused to do anything about it- finding short-lived joy in calorie-laden, comfort food -mostly buttery mashed potatoes, chocolate, and pastries. Thankfully I was never a fan of junk food per se, and eat McDonald’s sparingly- the only fast food chain that I keep going to. I used to tell myself that to be a confident woman, I must embrace my body, flabs and all. BIG IS BEAUTIFUL. Now, before I get threatening e-mails from beautiful, curvy girls- let me make myself clear that we are all beautiful at whatever size, but when your weight is physically and mentally pulling you down and causing obesity-associated health risks to YOU, that’s when the “BIG IS BEAUTIFUL” mantra needs changing.
I started running when I weighed 85kg, I am 158cm tall. I used to go to the gym for 2 hours every Saturday before that- doing an rpm and a body balance class back-to-back. But followed by a big breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, sometimes, almond croissants. I have been body conscious all my life; I am a girl after all! But when the scale hit 90kg, I was shocked. I mean, I was going to the gym, for fuck’s sake! I started to increase my gym sessions by going for classes during the week on top of Saturdays and only have my food indulgence on the weekends. I dropped 5kg thereabouts in a year following that- but I was stressed, I had a health scare and I was generally unhappy and negative about everything.
I hated the girls who run along UQ lakes. With their lean calves and bobbing ponytails and short shorts and the fact that they were running at ungodly hours, sometimes as early as 6am in the mornings. Passing them one day, I commented to a friend then “I will never be that kiasu in wanting to lose weight. I want to have fun too!”
But after my health scare, I had an appointment with a nutritionist, and was told to do more cardio. The easiest? You guessed it. Running. That’s when I started by one-signing up for “Bridge to Brisbane” in 2010, and two-bought a pair of Nike Free online and laced up. I can still remember the day. I walked out of college towards the river, wanting to just get to the UQ Citycat station (about 1km?). Passing by those pretty girls dashing towards the river, I really, really, really wanted to just walk back to my room in college and just go on Facebook while waiting for Masterchef. My excuse “I don’t look like those girls. I am too fat”. But here’s where I say a thankful prayer to my stubborn-ness. “You’re already out here, just jog!”And I did.
And that and then, ladies and gentlemen, was when I fell in love.
2. I am never fast enough
The thing about races is there’s the starting line, there’s the finishing line, and then there’s the cut-off time. In my first race, I finished the distance, a mere 5km, about 15 minutes outside the cut-off time. I walked most of the route. My legs couldn’t take it, and there were 3 reasons why I failed. One, not enough training. Two, not enough training. Three, not enough training. (To paraphrase Haruki Murakami in his book ‘What I talk about when I talk about Running”- he was training for the NY Marathon, and there I was, couldn’t even finish 5km in time). I hobbled back to the train station and back to UQ. Surprisingly, my body didn’t tell me that I hated the experience so much that I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN, but rather, I get this jolt that moved my body to lace up and just jog out the door every time I feel stressed, which was frequent and nearly daily after Bridge to Brisbane, as I had to finish my PhD thesis AND pack up and leave my beloved Australia at the same time.
I came back to KL and was stressed even more. The moment I arrived, I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life. But I was stuck. And I took it out by running. My first race was the 2011 Energizer Night Run, a supposedly 11km. It was poorly organized and was a disaster- I was dehydrated and demotivated from running after the race. My time 1:45:22. But my stubborn-ness or rather my masochistic alter-ego told me that I need to improve on that and signed up for Standard Chartered KL a couple of months after that, a 10km event. It was wonderful to be among a camaraderie of runners, and two girls who I felt were my best friends in Malaysia at the time, one of them is a serious runner- and she ran her 21km half marathon then, in good time too. My masochistic alter-ego then had a jealous moment and went “I want to do a half marathon too!”. That’s when I signed up for Putrajaya Night Marathon that Sept/Oct and did my first half marathon, again finishing 15 minutes outside of the time limit. The same experience dogged me at Penang that year.
The reason I failed? Not enough training. Not enough training. Not enough training.
My best PB so far was Gold Coast half marathon at 2:56:22 and even that, considered very slow by serious runners standards. I have been running for 2 years and 3 months now.
While runners’ camaraderie is good, one must also not let other people’s PBs to demotivate them. For me, I am chasing my own PB. And I may never be fast enough, but hey, I am running. And the time will come. :) I do apologize to those in my running group for being the slow-poke and them having to bounce back for me… but I hope by training I can one day pay it forward by bouncing back for another person.
3. Running gear is expensive- I can’t afford it!
I have to admit, paying my own mortgage and bills eat up my salary like an-ever-angry piranha. Coupled with my expensive-taste, it really does not bode well for my finances.
In its most basic essence, running IS the cheapest sport. You don’t need gear besides clothes (unless you live on a nudist beach) and running shoes. Hell, there’s even a barefoot running movement made popular recently from the book Born to Run. I have even seen this one man running a 10km barefoot (last year at SCKL and very recently at Brooks), and this one girl ran in slippers/thongs at this year’s Brooks’. But when you start to add the cost of a pair of good running shoes (easily sets you back up to RM500+, and you’d need at least 2), a GPS or heart-rate monitor watch (or both- get ready to part with RM1600 at least), and good sports bras and running skirts, compression tape, water bottle, gels, et cetera- running, like any sport, can be expensive. The only consolation is you don’t need to buy any other equipment (for example a bike, or book a court or go to the gym/pool to exercise). You’re only depending on your body, your legs, your stamina and your mental strength to tell you to just put one foot down after another, regardless. If you’re careful with your training, you won’t get any serious injuries. Just the usual black toenail, blisters, and soreness, really. I don’t deny that people have died running (from heart attacks to getting hit by cars and what nots), but your risk of injury is low if you do it right, in turn, lesser medical bills too. And who’s to deny that you’re investing in your health? That, my friends, is not something money can buy.
And girls, marathon expos have sales on running gear- retail therapy gets no better. : )
4. Sleep, family,work and my social life is more important!
Once you start becoming/being a serious runner (i.e. running every alternate days, with weekend LSDs), there’re actually quite a few things that you have to give up. Late nights clubbing, or staying up late for whatever reasons is a no go because you have to sleep by 9pm or earlier to wake up at the ungodly hour in the morning to run. Races start as early as 2am, and even for your LSDs, you’d need to get to the appointed starting place latest at 6am, to avoid traffic and the glaring sun. But getting to know more runners nowadays, I realize that couples run together, and some even with their kids. Running is seen as a great family sport, and bonding time. For the singles like me- it gets me out of bed in the mornings and not think too much about making it alone. Running is both a lonely and social sport. I think it gives me a good balance between the two. And the runner’s high experienced afterwards- priceless. :)
It can be challenging trying to juggle a career, cleaning the house and doing house chores, having friends and running- but I guess I have enough love for the sport to actually do all these. The maintenance guys who came to fix my electrical plug recently commented on my collection of bibs in the living room “Are you an athlete?” and I actually blushed. I don’t know how to answer them. I’m not an athlete like Scott Jurek is an athlete, but I do run. And I run because I like it. And because it’s something I like to do, I make time for it.
Looking back at excuses 1-4, I used to use them to not get going. But I really can’t say that I don’t like running. But if you are one of those who don’t- and you can’t find it in you to love it- then it’s okay. You can keep yourself moving via other sports (dancing is great, so is tennis/basketball/cycling/swimming, etc- whichever rocks your boat). Running has become some sort of a phenomenon in recent years and I get it that some people are peer-pressured into it, or doing it because you think it’s the “in-thing” at the moment, the “cool” thing to do. Whatever your reason to have started your venture into running in the first place, I sincerely believe that you have to like it to keep doing it. If you don’t, you don’t. Runners don’t lose weight as fast or as visibly, we have big calves, we have icky toe nails, we have chaffing at undisclosed locations, we have blisters that don’t look sexy in heels, we are stinky after our run. We don’t fit into the ideals of “beauty” per se. But there’s just something about runners’ high that make every single runner look beautiful. I guess it’s the knowledge that there’s a lot of effort being put into the love of the sport. I’d let you guys into a secret- I used to not like running too. I looked like a clumsy whale trying to run (yes, I know whales don’t run… just I look really, really awkward) and it makes me feel so out of breath. But the experience also taught me to care less about what other people perceive of me. Sure, I get the occasional- but you don’t lose any weight; your timing is really slow, that’s not impressive at all- comments- but I still do it. I have days when I needed to finish work or clean the house or put events first- but after a couple of days of not running, I would feel out-of-sorts. It’s a love affair, it’s a relationship that I want to make work.
And I hope that I would be able to keep this love affair for a long while yet. :)
run.happy!
