Now I run 5k. Never in my life have I thought I would write these words: I am a runner!!! It took me 1 year to do it and I simply did not believe it was for me.
When lockdown happened in 2020, there was a lot of time in my hands and as I watched an interview in the morning news show about this app supported by the NHS that would teach you how to run 5k in 9 weeks, it intrigued me. Would I be able to do it?
With the click of a button, I started and was happy that you would walk more than run in the first week. I am good at starting things, but they also phase out quite quickly. After the first couple weeks, my partner and a friend joined me in the experience of trying something new.
By week 4 my right knee started hurting. Well, this is why ibuprofen exists, I thought. I wish it was that simple. To cut a long story short, I had an inflammation inside the bone. According to the doctor, these things happen with age (argh! After 50, you just need to take the car to the shop more often). I ended up having to wear a brace to take the load off the knee. It took 6 months of physiotherapy, walking with a brace until the knee healed. It was a relief when the doctor said that if the knee was not hurting, it might not need to operate. The doctor also suggested that I could try running with a supportive band and if there was no pain, I could keep doing it. What a relief! We pressed the reset button and followed the 9 weeks to become runners. I realised that one of the main reasons for the success of this accomplishment was all about having someone supporting me, supporting each other, doing something together.
It took me one year from when I first watched the news to now running 5k. We do it 3 times a week and it is kind of sacred now. It is a space for us doing something that we learned to enjoy. You could say that I am resilient and committed, but there is something about facing some of the myths we tell ourselves like I don’t want to learn this, or I am too old for that. I realised we are much greater than that.
And you might be wondering why I am writing about this, but I thought about how many of these myths and stories we tell ourselves every day about the things we don’t even want to try. In the corporate world, we shy away from trying new things with all the possible excuses. It ranges from ‘I don’t have time’ to ‘I will never be able to do it’. My invitation here is for you to stop selling yourself short. I am certain that there are things out there for you, a stretch target you would like to try, or a new competency for you to learn. It does not matter if it was written in your development plan or just a dream you would like to pursue . Buddy up with someone you trust, gather resources you collected throughout the years and push yourself. You will be surprised at what you can achieve. Maybe, even, we could be running 5k together.
Overcoming myths
