Ruth Field - Get Off Your Ass and Run!: A Tough-Love Running Program for Losing the Excuses and the Weight

Get Off Your Ass and Run! is like having your best friend tell you to get real.

Kara Goucher, Olympic Distance Runner and author of Kara Gouchers Running for Women

Embrace the Grit Doctor! Her no-nonsense advice laced with good intentions will make you laugh out loud, and lace up!

Dawn Dais, author of The Nonrunners Marathon Guide for Women

Amusingly vicious... excellent advice all around.

Emma Thompson

If you have a healthy body image and sense of humor, and need to give your motivation a kick in the pants, the Grit Doctor is for you! Ruths combination of lashing and laughs will make you lace up and hit the ground runningno excuses.

Kristin Armstrong, Contributing Editor for Runners World magazine and author of Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run

If you need a fresh dose of incentive to get out (or back out) on the road, The Grit Doctor offers up a program of no-nonsense common sense laced with brutal honesty.

Mina Samuels, author of Run Like a Girl

As a runner who spends a good deal of time encouraging others to give it a whirl, Im glad to have Get Off Your Ass and Run! as a resource to share. The balance between solid content, an intimate knowledge of the kinds of things that hand newbie runners up, and a tough-love sense of humor makes this a fun and motivating read.

Deborah Reber, author of Run for Your Life: A Book for Beginning Women Runners

BECAUSE EVERY BOOK IS A TEST OF NEW IDEAS

RUTH FIELD

is no professional fitness guru. She is, however, a devoted runner who, while pregnant with twins and under doctors orders not to run, decided to write this book as an outlet for her frustration. She never dreamed anyone would actually read it. Let alone buy it.

THE GRIT DOCTOR

is not a fitness expert, nor is she a real doctor. Her profession is simply grit, but in this area she is, without question, the worlds leading authority. The exercise routines in this book are intended for those in reasonable physical and mental health. If you have a genuine medical condition or underlying injury, are pregnant, or have any other health concerns (including past or current experience with an eating disorder), please consult your doctor before starting out. However, under no circumstances invent health concerns or problems and use them as an excuse to avoid running sessions.

for Olly

I am the Grit Doctor. I am a ruthless, no-nonsense motivator who will force you to do the things you dont want to doin this case, run. I will bully you into submission and then inspire you to heights greater than you thought possible. I am the voice you will tune in to when you are feeling at your most lazy and inefficient and the one who will help you ignore the deafening call of the sofa. I will whisper in your ear, Do you really need that? when you are contemplating one more potato chip. I am the voice you need to listen to and obey.

Once you learn to understand and enjoy the voice of the Grit Doctor, it wont be long before you can tune in to it whenever you choose. The Grit Doctor will push you forward when you might otherwise give up. The voice of the Grit Doctor is what youve been missing in your life. You just didnt know it until now.

PART 1:

RUNNING

This book is not for the committed fitness freak. Nor is it meant for the super-motivated. I am not here to help you to run a marathon or sculpt your deltoids. If you already have the body you wantand that includes those of you who are fat and blissfully happy just as much as the super-slim and toned among youcongratulations. You dont need to read any further.

This book is specifically designed for those of you who are unhappy with your body. Those of you who feel stuck and unable to commit to any kind of exercise or diet for long enough to see any results. It is designed to shake you out of your complacence, get you up off the sofa, and make you embrace a new way of being.

The good news is that nothing in this book is rocket science. In fact, a great deal of it is common sense. So why do I need to read it, then? I hear you ask. Well, knowing something is common sense is all well and good, but when it is buried under layers of self-delusion, its not always that easy to act on. You know that eating healthily is common sense, too, dont you? And yet that cake makes you drool with desire and you happily bypass the fruit bowl to get at it. So dont be fooled into thinking you know it all already. You dont.

When I say its not rocket science, what I really mean is that if youre looking for the latest high-tech, Gwyneth Paltrowapproved weight-loss program, youve come to the wrong place. This book follows a basic formula: run, eat less junk, lose weight. Simple. But dont confuse simple with easy. Straightforward, yes. Easy, no.

Running is simple in the sense that it is entirely natural and instinctive. All able-bodied people were born to run. Just watch the way that any child, freed from the protective grasp of a parents hand, joyfully runs about with complete and utter abandon. Nothing could be more natural. But while it is a simple activity, easy it isnt. Certainly not when youre doing it as a self-conscious adult as opposed to during a game of tag on the school playground. So in order to rediscover this natural gift that you were born with, you will need education, discipline, and commitment. But dont panic, the Grit Doctor will be with you all the way and will help you dig deep and find all three.

Before we get under way, there are three concepts you must take on board. Immediately.

1. You need to be taught how to run. It is not quite as simple as merely going outside and giving it a whirl.
2. When it comes to food and weight loss, the bottom line is this: Your run will be your diet. Quite literally.

   And most important,

3. In order to hear my message clearly, and appreciate its value, you will need to make friends with your inner bitch. My own inner bitch is the Grit Doctor, and Im lending her to you for the duration of this book. I hope you will come to know and love her and, ultimately, adopt her, adapt her, and make her your own.

Now I know that this whole Grit Doctor thing is in danger of making me sound like some kind of nut, but really I am just naming that voice we all have inside our heads. Yours may be lying dormant or suffocating under your excess weight, but it is there. That nagging little voice that makes you feel just a tad uncomfortable about helping yourself to another cookie or ignoring the wet laundry in order to watch one more episode of Glee. You know, the one you usually ignore. Well, not anymore. One of the things I am going to try to help you do is to listen much more carefully to that voiceamplify it, actuallyuntil it really gets in your face.

The Grit Doctor will be with you throughout this book. Shell be there, holding up a mirror when you slump back onto the sofa, sighing that this all sounds too much like hard work and reaching for the chocolate. She will motivate, inspire, and, yes, even bully you into making the necessary changes in your life. Sometimes you will hate her. In fact, you may always hate her, but one day youll want to shout back and show her whos boss. And when that happens, youll know youve turned a corner. Youve found your own inner bitch.