Lisa Jhung - Running That Doesn’t Suck: How to Love Running (Even If You Think You Hate It)

No, this book is not fiction. Running doesnt have to suck. But first things first. How do you currently feel about running?

It sucks.

I hate it.

It hurts.

Its boring.

Im afraid of it.

I wish I could do it.

I do it, but I hate it.

I want to love it.

All of the above. (Duh.)

Rest assured, you will feel differently about the negative answersand closer to achieving the wishes and wantseven by the time you get to of this book. And youll feel better still by the time you get to the end. Promise.

No matter what you answered above, Running That Doesnt Suck is for you. Its also for your friend, family member, coworker, neighbor, CrossFit buddy, yoga classmate, parent or teacher at your kids school, or anyone you know who says they wish they liked running, but they hate it. (Go ahead and buy this book for them, too, to change their life.)

Running is hard. It hurts, especially at first. And it can hurt the second, third, fourth, and tenth time you try it if its brand new to you, or if youve been forcing yourself to do it in a way that isnt true to who you are (see quiz !). But, for real, less suckiness can be achieved. Set out on a run using the tips in this book, and soon your perception of running will change. And then, magic: your body will hit a new gear. Your breathing will actually sync with the movement of your feet and your arms, and your brain will be loving your body for giving it a taste of that runners high you thought was a myth.

And your body will be loving your brain for making you go.

Why do I know this? Because I love running, but I used to hate it. In high school, my hatred of running turned me into a sneak. I was on the track-and-field team, but as mostly a high jumper, and those big foam pits you land on after jumping over the high jump bar? They work great as hideout bunkers for teenagers who dont want to jog the two-lap team warm-up.

I played volleyball and soccer and had no problem chasing after a ball. On the track team, I did some sprinting and hurdling races, with the sight of a finish line no more than a hundred or two hundred yards away. But running any sort of long distance? I thought it sucked.

The summer before college, I had to change my ways. I planned on trying to walk on to my college volleyball team, and the coach had told me we had to run a sub-seven-minute timed mile.

Having been a California kid whod grown up loving the beach, I figured Id head down to Twenty-Fifth Street in Del Mar with my running shoes. (Any excuse to go to the beach.) I thought, Im an athlete; I can do this.

I made it, maybe, to Twenty-Third Street. Two blocks.

I stopped, exasperated, exhausted, and annoyed. I walked a little. Then I looked down the beach and thought, Make it to the next lifeguard tower, which was another three blocks away. I dont think I made it that day without walking. But I kept going back, always eager to get to the place I loved, apprehensive about how far Id get without having to walk.

On one of those early runs, I figured out to run down on the hard-packed sand, where the water laps the shore and creates a much harderspringy, evensurface than the deep stuff. And on one of those runs, I made it to that next lifeguard tower at Twentieth Street, then Seventeenth Street (eight whole blocks from where I started!). And I had a new goal: to make it to the next lifeguard tower, which was about two miles away on the next beach south.

That summer, I learned to love running. I started pushing my pace, trying to beat the setting sun. Make it to that pile of seaweed before the sun dips fully into the horizon. I got faster; I craved the motion of running. I made it to the tower on the next beach over and back, regularly. I went off to college, ran that sub-seven-minute mile, and walked on to the volleyball team. In fact, I ran the mile a lot better than I fared playing volleyball, and when I walked off the team that spring, I kept running.

Decades and thousands of miles later, Ive spent years as a contributing editor to Runners World and have been a running and outdoor sports journalist for twenty years. Ive interviewed elite runners, amateur runners, running coaches, physiologists, sports psychologists, gait analysis experts, scientists studying effects of running, running specialty store owners and employees, running gear designers, and extraordinary folks of all sorts spanning the wide world of running. Over the course of my career, Ive researched and written about everything from how to improve your speed, form, and joy while running to what to wear in virtually every degree of temperature, to the proper etiquette in nearly any running scenario you might find yourself in. Ive written a trail running book called Trailhead: The Dirt on All Things Trail Running. Ive run and raced and adventured around the world, and the blissfully simple movement of running is part of my identity. Its part of my soul. But I didnt always love it, and Im on a mission to help others find the joy in it that I have.

I want to help you decode running, to stop being afraid of it, to stop hating it. It really doesnt have to suck. In fact, running can be awesomeyou can love it!if you approach it the right way.