- Don’t give into hopelessness if running isn’t going well - You will get better. I’ve felt hopeless on many occasions over the past 2 years. I’ve ran and ran and I haven’t got much faster and my diet is still pretty bad. Many times I’ve felt like giving running up and eating ice cream for a living, but there are no jobs that pay well in that area (except with Ice Cream).
- Make the right choices sometimes – You don’t have to eat 100% right or train at 100% but it’s a balancing act between the two. There’s always a very small margin between victory or defeat. It comes down to a few 100 calories or a couple of miles each day. Track your diet and your exercise regime relentlessly and you’ll find ways to better yourself.
- Execute your fitness plan ferociously - If you want to start running properly, pick a race to run and enter it! Base the rest of your life from now until then around it. It might sound excessive now but the momentum it generates will transform the rest of your life if you see it through.
- If you start making progress then don’t let up – It’s easy to fall into the way of thinking that just because you’re losing weight or getting fitter now means it will always be that way. Keep surging on whilst the wind is at your back. It won’t always be that way, trust me.
- Fuel yourself with hate – Remember all of those motherfuckers who thought you were useless or made fun of you or treated you badly in the past? Use your anger as a positive and let it fuel you onwards and upwards (and not to gain their approval either).
- The past does not dictate the future – You might have been shit yesterday but you’ll be better today and even better tomorrow if you just keep doing what you can now.
- Don t worry about appearing crazy to others – Most of the fuckers who will call you crazy will live and die at their office desks with nothing but shallow gossip separating them from the perimeters of eternity. These fuckers are already dead and are just waiting on their P45 to make it official.
- Enjoy your own life – Don’t let any sour-faced-fitness-freak-fucks tell you that you aren’t living the right life. There is no right life. Make your own life. Be content in yourself above all. If someone is telling you that you’re eating wrong or running wrong then tell them to fuck off.
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by Matt the Angry Jogger
Matt lost 70lbs through running and has ran 13 half marathons and 4 full ones. He hates health freaks with a fucking passion and loves cheese and cider.
Great post. I too run (casually this past six months, I must confess), and can associate with many of your comments. But your message about not allowing your past dictate your future is one that runners should abide by. Running distance is hard, but you will get better with each run, and each run gets easier thereafter. Personally, I have completed 3 half marathons + 9 in training for them (my best time is 2:08), and I have never changed my diet or way of living for them. So it can be done with the right mindset. I have went from nearly 17 stone to 14, simply by running mile after mile, then trying to beat the times I set the last time. I challenge myself to achieve goals through running – weight loss, times, half marathons or charity events – these are the things that keep me running, although I’m crap at it, and like Matt says – don’t worry about appearing crazy to anyone else… If you do, they’re the loser!