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How To Jog Beyond Negative Thoughts About Running Wri t t en by D r. M i c hel l e Q u i rk
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rowing up, I was the kiddo struggling to finish the mile run, huffing and puffing my way around the track, and walking the last lap or two. My mind fed me some of these thoughts: “Running is too hard. You’re not a runner. You can’t even go a mile. You’re not fit enough. You’re not lean enough.” Fast forward twenty years later, to when I began running more regularly, and arrived at my first couple of start lines at local 5ks. The same thoughts from twenty years earlier came right up for me. Standing at the start, I’d look around and think all of those negative thoughts, with the common thread of: “I don’t belong here.” During college, medical school, and residency, I started and stopped and started again with running. In the beginning, I was getting out there pure4 2 | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 0
ly to practice what I was preaching to my patients. But each time I would take a long break from running and then get back to it, the same negative self-talk would creep in: “I’ve never been able to stick with this before, so why would I be able to this time around?” There are many negative thoughts that come up for individuals when it comes to getting started with running, but they can all be overcome! *It’s too hard. When I started running, I thought I had to try to go out as fast and as long as possible to get a decent workout accomplished. This resulted in feelings of disappointment when I would get tired and out of breath quickly. And honestly, when I was huffing and puffing my way home with aching legs, running wasn’t much fun at all.
The game changer for me was learning how to run slowly. I found that I could run for longer and with much less fatigue. Instead of trying to run at the pace we ran for the elementary school 100 meter dash all those years ago, I would encourage myself to find a pace that I can comfortably sustain. By going more slowly, we find a pace at which we could have a conversation. Alternatively, finding a pace at which one could belt out Springsteen’s, “Born To Run,” without becoming short of breath, is also very much encouraged. What if we embraced our current fitness, wherever that happens to be, and simply ran with it, however slowly? “I often hear someone say I’m not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner.” ~Bart Yasso
