Things No One Tells You About Running

So you decided to start running, hooray! Whether it’s to lose weight or simply get outside, I applaud you for getting out there and giving it a try. There’s so many things that people don’t tell you about running and I wish I definitely knew some of these in my early days. It would have helped my sanity a bit!

Things No One Tells You:

• Unless you’re an elite or have super human legs and stamina, people take walk breaks during races! If anything, walking at water stops is encouraged!
• You will quickly learn how far away things are from your house. You’ll know which houses have crazy dogs that bark at you and where the sidewalk decides to abruptly end (I’ve had this happen to me and I almost rolled my ankle).
• The amount of laundry you will do will instantly double.
• Unless you run by yourself and are cool with wearing a few things twice, haha!
• No matter the amount of reflective clothing and flashing lights, you will have at least one car almost hit you while crossing the street.
• If your legs rub, you learn that clothing with flat seams is a life savor.
• If your legs rub, you learn what to use to avoid chaffing (Boudreaux’s Butt Paste or Body  Glide works wonders!)
• Ladies, grey bottoms and cardio do not mix!
• You will seriously question your sanity when the alarm goes off for early morning runs (I still have my mornings when I curse the whole time).
• When you first start running, the soreness can be bad.
• Unfortunately the only way to get the soreness to go away is to keep moving.
• The consistency of energy gels take some getting used to. (This was a rude awakening for me. I gagged so hard the first time I tried one on a training run, I nearly fell over.)
• When you meet other runners, it can feel like you’re instant friends.
• Everyone started off with short and slow runs.
• Sometimes running and training can drive you crazy.
• However, once you fall in love with running, missing a run due to injury or life will drive you crazy too.
• Not everyone likes running and that’s okay!
• Sometimes it may take a mile before you hit your stride.
• Everyone has runs that suck.

Running is seriously my passion. There’s something about being outside with the sun on my skin and wind blowing in my hair that just brings my heart joy. It’s probably because it reminds me of being a kid! It was hard for me to start and so many people make it look easy. However, it takes a lot of work but once you fall in love with it, running doesn’t feel like work!

What are some things you wish people told you before you started running?