Friday, January 20, 2012

How I Started Running

I was asked why do I run/how did I start running?

I had a post about this a few mo the ago, but I can't find it anywhere, so I will write it again.

The first time I remember running was when I was about 5 or 6. I was on holidays with my family and there was a "run til you drop" style game. Obviously created by parents that wanted their kids to get lost for a while.
So off we went. I was the youngest in the race. I can't fully remember the whole thing, but I cam remember them telling me to stop after I was the only one left running around a football pitch.
I was never one for sitting around. Once or twice a week, a physio would come to the house and do therapy on me. This is when I get clapped on each side of my torso for about 30minutes each time. My parents would do this up to 5 times a day. With this, turn me upside down and run around the room with me. It doesn't stop here. After that, there was tickle time. The reasoning behind this was that it made me laugh, contract the diaphragm and lungs, to get the mucus up. It works!!!
We moved house to Inchicore when I was 7/8. I spent my time there either playing street football with my older brothers, or playing chasing, again with my older brothers. So I would have to try harder to keep up with them because they were older. I remember my brother saying "if you case me any more I will die because my heart will work too hard". I also spent time running away from junkies. After I tormented them by throwing stones to get a chase. And it worked. They deserved it!! But Jesus, I'd say they were on E because I have never seen anyone else run so quickly!!!
I used to play football for St. Patricks Athletic when I lived in Inchicore. I moved schools in 3rd class to a school in Dublin City for some reason. They said, we will be your friend if you beat the fastest fella in the class. So i raced him from wall to wall. I won. But turns out i actually cant sprint now a days, but i won the race and won some new friends. When I moved to Dunshaughlin I stopped playing with Pats and played with Dunshaughlin United. It wasn't such a great team. Or else it wasn't such a great league.
Anyway, in 5th class, our school had a race. I had to do it in my uniform. I won the race, went to the next round and came 3rd. After that I went to a track. I was winning that until I got tripped with 70m to go. After that race I didn't really run much. Just played football still. The following year, the same race came around. I won all the races. A coach came over and asked me to run in the club. So I did, and the rest is history.
I haven't stopped running since 5th class. I was asked how do I stay motivated, and do I not get sick of it. On the motivation side, I don't really know what keeps me motivated, and regarding the getting sick of it. Yes I do, and I stopped running during the summer of 2011 because I was putting in so much, and was getting no return. I also got injured and sick. So I just stopped, disheartened by it all. I found out that, if I dint run, I get sick, and I will end up on IV anti-biotics, so I have no choice really. If I get sick of running, I get sick. This is also a form of motivation. I dont really think of CF too much. It's not a real reason that I run, but I can never stop running. I suppose I'm a Forest Gump in a way.

I know if you have CF, and haven't ran before, it will be hard to start off. But I promise you. If you run, you get used to it, and you force yourself to like it, in a way. If you get sick from coughing too much. It's a good thing. You don't have the mucus inside you. It's out on the floor. It won't feel nice, but I'm sure being on IVs doesn't feel nice either?? Every time you go out, try do a little more, even if it's 30 seconds more. Those 30 seconds add up.
So get out running and stick with it. It will be worth it.

Adios

2 comments:

  1. Couldn't agree more. When I started running, I hated it. In fact, I still hate it. Yet, if it's been a little while since my last run, I start to miss it!!

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  2. Even if you hate it, it's still the best exercise for CF in my eyes. If i take a break I'm the biggest crank in the world. Running junkie!!

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