This past summer, I started running.

It started one day when I just needed to get out of the house and clear my head. I was mad or frustrated or something. Not gonna get into it. One of those days. I often walk to work and take the bus/walk around town plenty, but never really one to take a walk for the sake of taking a walk. I enjoyed it, so I kind of kept it up as an occasional evening ritual.

Eventually I thought, why not try running? I know several people who are runners.^[1] But it's the sort of individual athletic activity that kind of doesn't appeal to me personally. I've discussed this sort of thing with people in the past, but while I would abstractly sort of enjoy being "someone who can run fast", I have zero interest in like, measuring how fast I can run and then trying to improve on this number. I'm quietly quite a competitive person, but like, I want my competition to have some sort of decision-making element on top of the athleticism involved. It's a me thing. I always joke that the 500m dash at the Olympics or whatever isn't a "sport", it's a "measurement".

But there I was wandering around neighbourhood paths and side streets and looking around at the scenery and losing myself in thought, so I figured: Why not add a little more exercise to it? So I bought myself a smart watch for my birthday^[2] and dug into a C25K plan.

C25K stands for "Couch to 5 Kilometres": a plan for someone who doesn't run at all to gradually build up to running a 5K. I guess some guy came up with it in the 90s, I dunno - it has a Wikipedia article on it. There's probably hundreds of apps. Plus a billion different web pages or reddit posts with spins on the idea out in the wild. I grabbed this one, mainly because I liked the succinct HTML table that turns up about a quarter of the way down the page^[3].

So I'm journaling a bit here as I progress. I'll actually post this once I get to the 5K mark, which I'm now confident I will do successfully.

Officially, this is supposed to be an eight-week program, with three runs per week. I mostly didn't manage that rate.^[4] Combination of factors, wouldn't want to run on the day before a busy day, or if I'd been up late the night before, etc. So while the below is divided into "weeks", I certainly didn't execute them on a weekly basis. But it makes for a good way to break the program down and write about my experiences.

Week 1

• Run 1 minute / Walk 2 minutes, x6
• Run 1 minute / Walk 2 minutes, x8
• Run 1 minute / Walk 1 minute, x10

I guess the plan is truly meant for the sterotypical "couch potato" to start, because I was quite surprised at the run to walk ratio here. I've always said I'm not athletic but I am at least fairly active, so I wasn't worried about how this was going to go to start. I was even tempted to skip this initial week. But I didn't, out of a sense of "trust the process". I did find myself sweatier when they were done than I thought I would be. I'm told by video game enthusiasts that sweating makes me lame.

Week 2

• Run 2 minutes / Walk 2 minutes, x5
• Run 3 minutes / Walk 2 minutes, x4
• Run 3 minutes / Walk 1 minute, x5

So you can see the trend there, how this system works. Short intervals of running with walking breaks in between. You're out for roughly twenty minutes (plus I do about another five and five, warmup and cool-down walking.) As you go along, you increase the run:walk ratio, first by adding a bit of running time, later by reducing the walking time.

The one problem I experienced early on was some severe calf cramping. Fatigue wasn't really an issue, but I was really hurting in my calves and kind of achilles tendon area. This would kick in almost right away when I started running. It mostly didn't linger the following days, but the achilles pain kind of did. I was a little weirded out by this, because like I said, it's not like I've never run before, there's lots of sprinting in baseball/softball, I would run to warm up at the gym, etc.

When I started this whole thing, I went out and bought proper "running shoes". They were way springier and cushioned than I'd expected, compared to any number of sport-specific footwear I've owned over the years. Way different feel on the feet than regular gym shoes, or cleats, etc. So I figured they were what might be causing the pain, I was worried that maybe they weren't a good fit or something, that maybe I should have just stuck with regular shoes until I was more serious.

The pain went away eventually. Maybe it was just from getting stronger, but I think what it really was was that I changed my technique. I think I naturally started by running like I was sprinting. Running up on the balls of my feet, the way I would be if I was trying to beat the throw to first base to leg out an infield single. Even if I wasn't actually running that hard.

So I deliberately started to run in kind of a bit more "flat footed" style, and let these floaty cushiony running shoes "do the work", in a way. It might have been coincidence, but I immediately started feeling better. I was tempted to read up on this to confirm whether I was on the right track here, but I'm hellbent on not doing my usual "spiral into a deep dive on a random hobby" thing, so instead I just decide to trust what my body is telling me.^[5]

Week 3

• Run 5 minutes / Walk 3 minutes, x3
• Run 5 minutes / Walk 2 minutes, x3
• Run 6 minutes / Walk 2 minutes, x3

Here's where I first start to hit something I was finding a bit "challenging". Where I would really start to feel tired halfway through. A couple of things helped.

One was learning to pace myself a bit. Which everyone will tell you when you read online. But it's very easy to want to run too fast and burn out. So my actual pace (per km) dropped a fair bit, but I would maintain more endurance.

A second was something stupid: I'd been listening to podcasts while I ran. I dunno why, just because that's what I would listen to when I walked to work or whatever. Switching to listening to music helped so much. Imagining trying to run for 30+ minutes is intimidating, but imagining trying to run for 8-10 average length pop songs? Sure I can do that.

If you read people talk about this online, there's definitely a thought of trying to use a song with specific beats per minute to help lock you into a certain pace or cadence or whatever, but I have no interest in that. I would just put my music collection on shuffle, so sometimes it would be high octane dance music but more often it would be Xiu Xiu or some other weirdo shit. "I hate my body/I hate the desert/Please let me escape/When will I be coming home?" See, motivational.

Week 4

• Run 8 minutes / Walk 3 minutes, x2
• Run 10 minutes / Walk 2 minutes, x2
• Run 12 minutes / Walk 2 minutes, x2

For this week, I was back in my hometown visiting family and friends. I ran up my childhood street, around the corner to the astoundingly long extension that has been built on my childhood street, off across what used to be farmland, past a high school that didn't exist when I was young, and into a nearby neighbourhood where I used to have childhood friends, past my old little league baseball diamond, and then back home. Weird.

Since I had nothing else to do, this was my first week where I really hit the plan's pace of only a day or two break between runs. I thought it would be more tiring than it ended up being. I was really starting to feel the idea of "getting into a rhythm", especially with my breathing.

It was on the third run of the week where I distinctly thought to myself, "Oh, I'm gonna be able to do this, for sure. Not yet, but I'll definitely get to 5K, hundred percent." That was nice.

Week 5

• Run 15 minutes / Walk 3 minutes / Run 5 minutes
• Run 20 minutes
• Run 8 minutes / Walk 5 minutes / Run 8 minutes

I think I had a big gap after coming home, because I remember the first run of this block being the first time I briefly thought during the run that "oh jeez, I don't feel great here, I might have to do this one over." But then you get to the walk break, and then those last five minutes just fly by before you know it, which I guess is kind of the point.

When I started the third one, I thought it was weird. Going from 20 minutes of solid running to 16 minutes total, with a 5 minute break? What's with the easy-mode all of a sudden? Well, when I actually did the run, sure enough: it was easy! What a huge confidence boost that was. Again, I bet that's the point.

Week 6

• Run 20 minutes / Walk 3 minutes / Run 5 minutes
• Run 22 minutes
• Run 25 minutes

There was a big two-week gap here between the first run of this block and the 22 minute one, where I was sick. Feels like I can't catch a cold these days without being laid out for a week or more. Getting old, I guess.

Again I thought maybe I should do a week over again to make up for lost time, but also I was impatient to finish so I just powered forward as if nothing had happened. It was rough, but I got through it.

Week 7

• Run 26 minutes
• Run 28 minutes
• Run 30 minutes

Cruise control. By the time I get to 30 minutes, my watch is telling me I'm already running 4K and change, and whenever I'm done I definitely feel like I could keep going for a little while longer, so mentally I feel like I've basically already finished this thing. But like I told myself at the start, "trust the process".

By this point school is in session, so I'm starting my typical run just a little bit later than normal, as I'm right near a high school and don't want to get TikTokked by these ruffians. The downsides are that it's starting to get a bit colder out, and also I can smell what everyone is cooking for dinner.

Week 8

• Run 20 minutes "easy"
• Run 10 minutes / Walk 5 minutes / Run 10 minutes
• Run 5 Kilometres

So the first two runs I guess are to sort of rest up and prepare for the big 5K? I guess? I imagine if I was doing this thing every week religiously, and maybe if I was pushing harder on the runs or was starting from a worse baseline, this last 5K would feel like a big brass ring, the final boss, etc. Whereas for me, like I said above: I feel like I was basically already there, what's the big deal?

And I think I mentally sabotaged myself accordingly, for the first two runs, because even though the plan said the idea is to go easy, relax, rest up, I did the exact opposite. On that 10/5/10 run I was setting personal records on my lap times. I already find it a struggle to keep my pace somewhat slow, when I know I only have to do it for 10 minutes and I get a 5 minute break in between? Hard not to push. I guess at least this illustrates what a difference I feel compared to when I started.

The End

So earlier today, I did it. 5.05 km, 37:16 time, roughly. Had to stall for a few seconds to cross traffic, so adjust me down accordingly. No idea if that's a good time or not, don't really care.^[6]

I think when I look back on my progress, I could probably push harder a bit on pace. For me, what I was looking to get out of this as far as fitness goes was mainly building up endurance. So I was usually worried less about how fast I was running, more about whether I would have to "cheat" and take a break or walk when I was "supposed to be" running per the plan. So I succeeded in that sense, but I wonder if I'd have been better off treating it like stolen bases in baseball, in the sense that: if you never get caught, you probably aren't trying often enough.

The Future

I've decided I will try to keep this up during the winter, as long as I can do it outside. I think the one thing that still holds true for me is I could never do this just staring at a wall or trying to watch a TV show. I have a friend that runs outside in the winter, I'm going to pick her brain later on advice for footwear and paths, etc. Maybe I'll try to do some charity race next summer, whatever, just to say I did.

Do I enjoy running? I'm not sure. The actual physical running part, meh. I don't get a "runners high" or whatever, at least not so far, maybe another sign I am supposed to be pushing harder.

I think I do enjoy being outside. Zoning out. Listening to music. Looking at trees and rabbits and nodding to neighbours. Thinking about songwriting and melody and structure. Thinking about topics to blog about. Thinking about how, with my noise cancelling headphones on, my breathing sounds like the Vaderesque rhythms of my stupid CPAP machine when I'm trying to fall asleep.

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1. When did we all stop calling it "jogging"? I would describe what I'm doing more like jogging than running, but if I say that I'm a "jogger", that makes me sound like an 80s mom. I bet some dorks who that thought that they were too cool for school started changing the lingo in the 2000s or something. ↩

2. I know I said I don't really care to measure my progress, but I thought to myself that I should do it anyway. And money makes for committment. ↩

3. I don't like the extreme longwinded motivational one-sentence-per-paragraph blathering that surrounds said table, though, I found it irritating. But I did read it all at least once, and there is truth within it. Just something about the tone of it gives me hives though. ↩

4. Now that I've finished, it looks like it took me roughly 15 weeks of calendar time, so almost twice the program's planned length. More like 12-13 weeks if you don't count a two-week sick break and assorted other interruptions. But I was mostly just happy that I never felt like I had to repeat a step in the end. ↩

5. OK a few months have passed and I couldn't help myself. It turns out that what I was independently discovering was the concept of "foot strike" and I was definitely using a "forefoot strike" which "places a lot of strain on the calf muscles and achilles tendons". ↩

6. Yeah, OK, I'm lying, roughly 7.38 min/km is a perfectly cromulent pace for "beginners", so I do know if the time is good or not and I guess I do kind of care. ↩