I Consider Myself a Novice Runner

I consider myself a novice runner, even though I have technically been running for over four years. I say this because for those four years I ran almost daily, but I wasn’t a runner; I hated to run. I only recently started really running.
A little over four years ago, I started running because I joined the Army and was forced to run. This is probably the worst way for me, or anyone else, to start running, because being yelled as I trudged along for several miles each day bred a deep resentment for the activity. This initial hatred built up day by day during my Army training, which was almost eight months total. By the time I was able to run without someone screaming at me to hurry up because his grandmother moves faster, I despised running. Still, in the Army, I had to run to keep my fitness level from dropping, but I dreaded every time I went out for PT (Physical Training). So it went for a good while, until just a few months ago.
About seven months ago, I was deployed to Iraq. Once we arrived in country, PT was left up to each individual to do on his own; there was no group PT, no forced running. Not wishing to cause myself any unnecessary agony, I only ran sporadically for the first few months. Needless to say, my level of fitness quickly plummeted. I was starting to notice that I was getting lazy and out of shape. I tried to start running regularly, but I still didn’t like it, so I wasn’t very consistent. One day, a couple of my friends signed up for a 10k race and, thinking that it would force me to get out and run, I signed up, too. On the day of the race, the four of us lined up in the middle of the pack at 6 AM. I started the race with two of my buddies, but they left me behind not quite two miles into the run. The next four miles dragged by, but I kept running and finished in 52:26. It wasn’t a horrible time, but at one time, I would have been able to run it faster. As I walked home and thought over the race, I decided that I needed to start running regularly and keep at it this time. Once I got back to my bunk and started getting ready to shower, I looked at my number, which was still pinned to my shirt, and saw at the bottom “Sponsored by Runner’s World Magazine – runnersworld.com.” I thought that if I was going to start running, I should learn how to do it right and maybe get some advice from people with a bit more experience. I bought a copy and read nearly every article. The next step was to start running.
My next hurdle was getting up early enough to run. I have never been a morning person and getting up to run didn’t seem worth it. After telling a friend that I was going to wake up and run, he told me that I didn’t have the will power. The next morning I was out the door by 6 AM more to spite him than anything else. I did the same thing four or five times each week for a couple of weeks. I noticed that I was getting a bit faster and the definition in my body was returning. After a few weeks, a soldier in my company who saw me running several times asked, “You like running, don’t you?” I paused for a moment before I answered. “Yeah, I guess I do,” I said, and I meant it. That was when I first realized that I actually enjoyed running. It wasn’t just the effects that I liked, it was the actual activity, the rhythmic pounding of my feet and my heart, the wind blowing through my hair and over my face, the trees and scenery floating past. It was then that I began to consider myself a runner, not just someone who runs.
Since then, I have noticed a change in myself. On days that I run, I find that I have more energy, I am in a better mood, and I just feel better. I frequent Runner’s World online to make myself a better, safer runner and I read the magazine whenever I get the chance (it’s not always available here in Iraq). I have written about running on my blog and I have an online training log.
Running has helped me deal with being deployed in Iraq and being separated from friends and family. Whenever I have a particularly rough or stressful day, I can release all that tension with a nighttime run. I am glad that I have begun this transformation of myself. Becoming a runner is one of the most positive changes that I’ve made in my life.