Last week, I completed my 67th morning run.
To be clear, I’ve never considered myself a runner. Growing up, I didn’t do much running—never played sports that required it—and, as a result, had terrible stamina. Running even a single mile felt impossible; I’d be out of breath, nauseous, and ready to quit. On top of that, I’ve always had a tendency to give up on things early, thanks to boredom or laziness.
So it’s honestly a miracle that I’ve kept this streak of runs going. But I did. And along the way, I’ve picked up some lessons I wish I’d known earlier—lessons that might help you too, whether you’re just starting out or trying to find your rhythm.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
It becomes infinitely easier to keep going when someone is working just as hard with you.
Find a person you don’t want to let down. Together, set a date, time, and location to meet up for the run. Decide on a distance and route beforehand, or decide the day of. You can (and should) send them a GCal invite as well! Now that you’ve worked so hard to organize this, there’s no backing out: you’ve got to show up for your person.
Create a Strava account (plug!). Seeing my friends crush long distances on my feed motivated me to lace up on bad days; at the same time, knowing my own runs might inspire others kept me posting (and thus running!) consistently. Beyond accountability, Strava’s helpful for gathering statistics like your pace, distance, routes you frequently run, and who you’ve run with. This can help you plan runs and set goals for yourself as you get better at running.
The beauty of “just do it”.
If the previous section seemed like too much work, that’s because, well, you don’t really need allat. To run, all you actually need is a pair of running shoes. You’ve been running your whole life, don’t overthink it now. Just get out there and start running.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve fallen countless times in the past into the trap of pre-optimization. I can spend hours looking through YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and TikToks to find the best way to do something. For running, it would be gear, terrain, form, I can make the list go on forever. At some point, I’ll have thought about running more than I’ve actually run.
Don’t fall into this trap. In the same way it’s cooler to do a backflip than to know how to get there, it’s cooler to run than to make excuses for why you haven’t started. For me, the secret was in just starting and learning to get better through my own experiences.
One step too far forward results in two steps back.
Running is a great opportunity to learn the difference between soreness and injury. A dull ache is soreness, a sharp pain injury. If you’re feeling sore, you can keep running: in fact, it’s a sign that your muscles are just adapting and getting stronger. If you’re injured, take a break from running and treat the injured area appropriately.
I learned this lesson too late: after injuring my right hip on run 34, I kept on running with no more than 2 days of rest in between runs. My right hip then deteriorated to the point where I stopped being able to walk properly. That’s when I realized I needed to rest it. 4 days of icing later, I came back stronger than ever. Now I stop running the moment I sense injury.
All that to say: you’re running to stay in shape, but you also need to stay in shape to keep running. Don’t “keep up the streak” to compromise yourself in the process; it’s not worth it!
I’ve signed up for the Philly Love Run! It’ll be my first official race, and a half-marathon to boot. That aside, I’ll be keeping up with my morning runs. I’m excited to see where running takes me in 2025.
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