7 Myths About Forming a Running Habit

If you have ever thought about starting to run, you probably have some idea about how it is like to form a running habit. In this post, I will share some of the assumptions I had before I picked up running and how it turned out that most of them couldn’t have been further from the truth. Many of these findings apply also for other kinds of habits, so read on even if you are not a runner — even if you never want to become one.

1. Running will make you thin: One of the most common reasons why people start running is to lose weight. And apparently for some people, it works: I recently heard that a friend of a friend who is training for a marathon has lost more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) during his training. But the reality is not quite as simple as that. Naturally, running consumes calories, but if you don’t watch your calorie intake, you will be eating more to compensate for the running — and your belly fat stays. After over a year of more or less serious running, my weight is still the same as before I started.
2. Once you get started with the habit, it will become easy: There is a common idea that after a given time (from 30 days to a few months) your new habit starts to stick. Could be true but what I know for sure is that at least when it comes to running, this doesn’t mean that sticking with the habit would all of the sudden be easy. You do start to feel like you want to go running, and you feel bad about not going, but even then, every night when I have the choice between putting on my running shoes or hitting the sack, I have to fight myself. It feels good, but it’s not easy.
3. It’s easy to find time for running: Running is a habit you can pick up without buying expensive gear, without going to a specific place such as the gym, and without too much restrictions on the time when you can do it. I usually run right after my kids go to bed. Which is at earliest around 9 P.M.. So, yes, it is possible to find time for running, but it means I have to let go of something else. And this, I believe is a universal thing when it comes to forming new habits. Every new habit requires giving up one of your old habits: if you want to run in the evenings, you lose sleep or you have to stop waking up early in the mornings. And you definitely don’t have the time to watch your favorite TV shows (luckily I gave up this one already before starting to run). It’s possible to make time for running, but it’s always a compromise.
4. Running is boring: If you are looking for the big emotions and adrenaline rushes that you get from watching motor sports or playing ice hockey, you won’t find them in running. And indeed, some friends tell me that they find running for more than an hour boring. I never have felt that way. Instead, I believe running gets more interesting the longer you run. But on a different level: as you run, you get to know your body, how it reacts to the level of endurance you expect from it, and how you can handle pain. Also, you get to know your mind: if, like me, you always have a million things running in your head, running gives you time to process them, but also after a while puts you in a state where you don’t think about your ideas anymore but simply run. Running is the closest to meditation I’ve ever got, and it’s not boring at all.
5. Running is bad for your body: You must have heard this. “Running will just make your knees hurt”, “You need to be careful with the surfaces you run on as things like asphalt will break your feet, knees and back”, “Humans were not meant to be runners.” According to the eye-opening best-seller, “Born to Run” (one of my favorites from last year), humans are the most natural long distance runners among all animals, and our feet are the perfect tool for running on all kinds of surfaces. You just have to lose the cushioning of the modern running shoe and let your feet do what they do best, support your steps.
6. Races are just for the pros: I don’t know about you, but I never realized that anyone can participate in a race before I tried it myself and noticed that most of the people racing were people like me, running for fun to beat themselves, and not so much for the results. If there is one powerful way to motivate yourself to practice your running, it is by participating in a race such as a 10K or a half marathon. Having a clear goal in mind will keep you going even when you don’t feel like running.
7. Everyone knows how to run: After a childhood and many adult years wearing shoes every time we run, we have never let our body tell us how to run. All the cushioning, pronation support, and other unnecessary complication let us run pretty much just any way we like, trying to fix the problems with just having a different shoe. But it turns out that instead of making things better, this made things worse: With every new feature in the shoe, the foot unlearns some important aspect of how to run. And even if you don’t feel the pain, in the long run, you are hurting yourself. But when you start running with worn out shoes, or better yet, no shoes at all, you will start to notice when what you do hurts you. and can fix your step according to the information your feet are sending you. This way, slowly, by noticing what hurts, you improve your running technique. But first, you have to admit you don’t really know how to run, and start listening to your body.

Since I picked up running in January 2009, I have completed two half marathons and one full marathon. My latest race was a half marathon that I ran wearing the Vibram FiveFingers from the photo above — it was also my best running experience so far. If I can make myself enough time to practice, I am going to run my second marathon in August.

Give it a shot, you just might fall in love.