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Transcript

#HURDLEMOMENT: How To Start (And Stay) Running · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, hurdlers, Welcome back to another hurdle Moment in honor
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of all the small hurdles we're conquering each and every day.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This week, I'm chatting all about how to start and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: stay running, which, if we're being honest, is probably the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: second most often question that I get in my inbox,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: either in my email or my DMS, next to last
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: week's hurdle moment topic of how do I become a
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: morning person? If you haven't checked that out yet, I
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: definitely suggest you give it a listen. You know the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: drill By Now, we are on week three of these
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Hurdle Moments, and it seems to be something that you
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: guys are really into. I'm really digging all of your feedback.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I love when you send me your topic suggestions. And
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: what I adore even more than that is when you
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: share the podcast with a friend. You know it's never
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: going to get old. Each and every week when I
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: come back on here to record these, I'm able to
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  Speaker 1: say the sentence it was the biggest week ever for
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the podcast. That's all because of you, you guys, and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: tuning in and sharing it and all the things. So please,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: if you haven't done so yet, make sure to rate
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and review the podcast by clicking the link with the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: description to this episode, Share it with a friend, send
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: it to your mom, send it to your colleague, whoever.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate all the support. You guys are the best.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to keep this intro short and sweet this
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  Speaker 1: week because we got some run to do, so with that,
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  Speaker 1: let's get to this week's Hurtle moment. I know this
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  Speaker 1: might be hard to believe considering how often I run
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  Speaker 1: in my life now, but there was a time that
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  Speaker 1: I absolutely despised it. Once tipping the scale up more
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  Speaker 1: than two hundred pounds. I hated that I wasn't good
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  Speaker 1: at running, which really made me not want to do
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  Speaker 1: it at all. When I was a sophomore in high school,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't make the JV volleyball team because I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: run a mile in under ten minutes. I tried really,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: really hard, and all throughout growing up, my brother would
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  Speaker 1: always tell me to go run a mile when I
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  Speaker 1: was bothering him, which he knew got under my skin
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: because well, I felt as though I just couldn't do it.
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  Speaker 1: If you've listened to episode one of the podcast, then
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  Speaker 1: you've heard some of this story. Before, but for the
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: sake of this topic, it feels relevant to glaze over
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  Speaker 1: some of the details of how I started running in
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  Speaker 1: the first place. When I started back in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and seven, I was working at a summer camp in Madison, Connecticut.
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  Speaker 1: I was a rising junior in college. I had lost
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  Speaker 1: about thirty five pounds by learning how to eat better,
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  Speaker 1: and I refuse to let all of that progress go
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  Speaker 1: by the wayside, so I decided to start running. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't have a regular gym available to me at
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  Speaker 1: this job, and I wasn't willing to go back to
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  Speaker 1: where I was, So it feels like yesterday. The first day,
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  Speaker 1: I put on a pair of cotton black target leggings
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  Speaker 1: that were I'm sure see through a sports bra a
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  Speaker 1: pair of sneakers and went out and got after it.
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  Speaker 1: And I thought that I was running a mile, And
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  Speaker 1: I went and ran that same distance every single day,
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  Speaker 1: And you know what, it actually really was successful in
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  Speaker 1: a few ways. First and foremost, I continued to lose weight.
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  Speaker 1: I think I lost another twenty pounds that summer, and
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  Speaker 1: then also I learned to enjoy running for what it was. Now.
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  Speaker 1: The funny part about this is that I thought I
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  Speaker 1: was running a mile. What I was actually running was
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  Speaker 1: about a half mile, and it took me fourteen minutes
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  Speaker 1: to do it. I'm pretty sure if I tried really hard,
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  Speaker 1: I could walk a mile today in fourteen minutes. But
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  Speaker 1: that wasn't the point. The point, again, was that I
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  Speaker 1: had developed a relationship with running. It made me feel better,
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  Speaker 1: it made me feel productive, and I was slowly coming
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  Speaker 1: to terms with the fact that it was something that
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  Speaker 1: I was capable of. Fast forward. I've now run seven marathons,
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  Speaker 1: two different continents, and that's all because of that one
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  Speaker 1: summer when I was willing to put in the work.
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  Speaker 1: So part of me feels like this podcast episode is
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  Speaker 1: sort of silly, because in theory, all you really need
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  Speaker 1: to start running is the will to run. But even
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  Speaker 1: mustering that up can be difficult, especially if you have
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  Speaker 1: past experiences that make you feel as though you're not
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  Speaker 1: good at running. Akaa for me, the criticisms for my
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  Speaker 1: brother and that not exactly ten minute mile in high school.
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  Speaker 1: But this all brings me to step number one on
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  Speaker 1: how to start running. You've got to shift the dialogue.
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  Speaker 1: I'll use my mom as an example. And by the way,
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  Speaker 1: I love you mom. If you ask her point blank,
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  Speaker 1: she'll say I can't run. When she starts to run,
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  Speaker 1: and these are her words, not mine, she gets out
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  Speaker 1: of breath quickly and can only keep up a steady
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  Speaker 1: jog for a few minutes before she needs to stop.
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  Speaker 1: If you are seeing me talking about this into the
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  Speaker 1: microphone right now, you would also generous air quotes. But
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  Speaker 1: here's the thing. It's not that she's incapable of running.
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  Speaker 1: It's that she feels as though she's incapable of running.
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  Speaker 1: It's like me saying I'm not a fast runner. The
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  Speaker 1: reality is that really that too, is interpretive, and although
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  Speaker 1: I might feel that way, I recognize that I have
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to change that, just like my mom has
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to become a runner, and so do you.
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  Speaker 1: So Step one shift the dialogue. Instead of saying I'm
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  Speaker 1: not a runner, say I haven't done much running, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm open to trying it. That's the first door that
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  Speaker 1: you can open on your path to lacing up on
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  Speaker 1: the regular. Step two, start with no goal or a
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  Speaker 1: simple time goal. And by time goal, I mean tell yourself, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: today I'm going to run for ten minutes. And that's
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  Speaker 1: because it's a huge accomplishment to make running a habit period.
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  Speaker 1: You need to celebrate that before you can start checking
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  Speaker 1: off other major mind elstones that come with running. For me,
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  Speaker 1: those fifteen minutes every day that summer were the time
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  Speaker 1: that I was taking for myself. It didn't matter how
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  Speaker 1: far I was going or fast I was going, but
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  Speaker 1: just the simple fact that I was getting out there
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  Speaker 1: and doing it. Once you say to yourself, Okay, I
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  Speaker 1: feel like I've got these ten minutes under my belt
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  Speaker 1: or whatever your time in grimm it might be, then
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  Speaker 1: maybe you can up that. Then maybe you can up that,
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  Speaker 1: and then maybe you can up it again, and before
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  Speaker 1: you know it, Well, that's how progress happens. Step number three,
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  Speaker 1: find your jam. I'm not even exaggerating. For the first
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  Speaker 1: two years of me falling in love with running, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of that had to do with me finding the
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  Speaker 1: right playlist. I'm a music runner. I grew up dancing.
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  Speaker 1: Fun fact, I used to teach hip hop in college,
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  Speaker 1: and I can run to any playlist that has songs
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  Speaker 1: at my BPM, which is beats per minute for me
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  Speaker 1: that hovers at roughly ninety two. I even laugh sometimes
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  Speaker 1: with the songs that are on my run your playlist,
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  Speaker 1: which literally have been legacy editions since my first ever race,
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  Speaker 1: stuff like No Diggity Feeling It by Jay Z, Barbie
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  Speaker 1: Dreams by Nicki Minaj. I hate to say this out loud,
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  Speaker 1: but I don't know if you remember when Brooke Hogan
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  Speaker 1: had a brief singing stint. Yeah, I have a song
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  Speaker 1: by Brooke Hogan on my running playlist. Oh my god,
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  Speaker 1: I can't believe I just admitted that. Anyway, for me,
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  Speaker 1: I get lost in the beat, and eventually, when I
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  Speaker 1: built up my stamina, running just became my way to
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  Speaker 1: zone out into this music playlist and let go. But
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  Speaker 1: here's the thing that's not everybody's thing, and that's cool.
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  Speaker 1: More recently, as you can assume, I've become a podcast runner.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of the time. Aside from hurdle, I'm hooked
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  Speaker 1: on some like short story, long group chat, the Daily Up,
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  Speaker 1: First Almost thirty, Oprah's Masterclass, what else. How I built
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  Speaker 1: this skimmed from the couch. I mean, the list goes on.
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  Speaker 1: I could ran about these for a while. Some people,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, are no music, no podcast runners.
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  Speaker 1: They're all about homing in on that mind body connection
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  Speaker 1: and listening to their feet hitting the pavement. Regardless of
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  Speaker 1: what is your thing, finds something that enhances your run
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  Speaker 1: and lean into that. It took me years to be
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  Speaker 1: able to run naked, and by the way, the first
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  Speaker 1: time I heard that term, I totally laughed and thought
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  Speaker 1: it meant legit running without your clothes on. But what
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  Speaker 1: it really means is running without any sort of technology
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  Speaker 1: or music whatsoever. So no phone, no music, no Apple Watch,
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  Speaker 1: no Strava, no nothing. I felt as though I wasn't
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  Speaker 1: capable of continuing on without the extra help at first.
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  Speaker 1: Once I tried it, but the reality was just like
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  Speaker 1: a lot of other things that scare us, I just
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  Speaker 1: needed to try it. I needed to allow myself to
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  Speaker 1: feel the run. And now, even though I still classify
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  Speaker 1: myself as a music runner for the most part, there
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  Speaker 1: are some days that I actually really look forward to
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  Speaker 1: just absorbing how it all feels. No music, just me,
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  Speaker 1: my sneakers and the pavement, which brings me to step four,
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  Speaker 1: don't give up, guys again. Seven marathons in I have
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  Speaker 1: runs that suck all the time. Obviously at first, it
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  Speaker 1: feels like some runs are worse than others, and some
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  Speaker 1: days I feel like I never got over that first
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  Speaker 1: hurdle to begin with. Some days I feel like I'm
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  Speaker 1: still a sophomore in high school and I'm not exactly
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  Speaker 1: doing this whole putting one foot in front of the
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  Speaker 1: other thing. Well. Some days I immediately retreat back to
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  Speaker 1: my apartment within just a few minutes of leaving it.
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  Speaker 1: But just like life, every run happens to teach us something,
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  Speaker 1: the good ones, the bad ones, the subpar ones, the
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  Speaker 1: ones that you hardly remember because maybe you were slightly
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  Speaker 1: hungover while executing it. Whatever the case may be, just
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  Speaker 1: don't give up on yourself. Remember as long as you
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  Speaker 1: are moving forward, you are taking a step in the
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  Speaker 1: right direction. Step number five up for a race. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: this is a big exciting deal. If you're onto this step,
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  Speaker 1: you've probably gotten to a point where you feel comfortable
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  Speaker 1: running a little bit. And the good news is that
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  Speaker 1: there are races of all different types. I'm literally running
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  Speaker 1: a half marathon here on Sunday, the Shape Woman's Half Marathon.
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  Speaker 1: If anybody else is doing it, hit me up. And
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  Speaker 1: then I'm also running another mile, yes, a single mile
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  Speaker 1: race in June. You could pick a five k, maybe
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  Speaker 1: a ten k. Just do me a favorite and be
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  Speaker 1: smart about your goal setting. Well, it's admirable that you
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  Speaker 1: might be at a place where you want to sign
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  Speaker 1: up for something like a half marathon or even a
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  Speaker 1: marathon right off the bat, that's probably not the wisest idea.
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  Speaker 1: So start small. Get a feeling for what it feels
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  Speaker 1: like to be a part of a race, Visualize crossing
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  Speaker 1: the finish line. Cross the finish line, check off that
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  Speaker 1: major bucket list accomplishment, and then move on to a
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  Speaker 1: bigger and different goal. Trust me, there's plenty of time
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  Speaker 1: to cross off all of the things on your running
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  Speaker 1: bucket list. And now, lastly, step six and honorary last step,
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  Speaker 1: find a friend. So here's the deal. You know, there's
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  Speaker 1: so much research about how taking on new challenges with
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  Speaker 1: friends not only hold you accountable, but when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to sport, working out with someone that's slightly better than
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  Speaker 1: you can actually encourage you to work harder and go
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  Speaker 1: for longer than if you were going at it alone.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the thing. For years, and I mean like
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  Speaker 1: probably five or six years from the point where I
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  Speaker 1: started running, it wasn't something that I wanted to do
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  Speaker 1: with other people. For me, in those early years, running
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  Speaker 1: was symbolic of me giving back to myself, and I
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  Speaker 1: still feel that way these days. But then again, there
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  Speaker 1: are a lot of benefits to that as well. I'm
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  Speaker 1: so so lucky to live just a couple of blocks
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  Speaker 1: from one of my best friends who is also morphed
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  Speaker 1: into my once or twice weekly running buddy. Whenever we
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  Speaker 1: decide the night before, at around nine thirty ten o'clock
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to run the next morning, it's something
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  Speaker 1: that just keeps me on my toes. It's never really
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  Speaker 1: about pace. It's more about us just having the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to catch up logs and miles and like I said,
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  Speaker 1: hold each other accountable. It's something that makes my day better.
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  Speaker 1: It's something that I look forward to, and it's really
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  Speaker 1: awesome to be able to share something you're passionate with
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  Speaker 1: somebody else. Again, these are just a few of my simple,
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  Speaker 1: easy tools on how to start and stay running. Take
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  Speaker 1: it slow. Remember it's a privilege to run, it's a
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  Speaker 1: privilege to move our bodies. And again, every single run
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  Speaker 1: isn't going to be a home run, especially at first,
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  Speaker 1: and that's okay. What I know is that running has
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  Speaker 1: made me a better person. It's taught me so much
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  Speaker 1: about diligence. It's instilled in me that I'm capable of
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  Speaker 1: anything that I set my mind to, and that some
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  Speaker 1: days things are going to be hard and I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to get through it. Life really is, in my eyes,
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  Speaker 1: just one big run, one long marathon. Every day I
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  Speaker 1: lace up, and some day it feels effortless and other
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  Speaker 1: days it feels like a nightmare. But I get to
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  Speaker 1: decide where I go next, what turns to make, the
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  Speaker 1: playlist to play, the pace to set, And that's the
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  Speaker 1: beautia of it all, right, understanding that if you are
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  Speaker 1: willing to put in the effort, then it's all up
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  Speaker 1: to you. And that's all I got for today. Thanks
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: again for tuning in. If you like what you hear,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: make sure to head on over to the iTunes store,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: click the link with the description to this episode and
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: rate and review Hurdle. Also share the podcast. Tag me
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: let me know how you're running, where you're running, what
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: your next race is. I want to be in a
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: loop at Hurdle podcast at Emily Abadi another hurdle conquered.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Catch you guys next time.