Can I make myself love running?

[carries]

I look at folk running in my town, they make it look easy & fun. It's a cheap form of exercise. I can go for run when it suits me (& the kids). BUT I'm not a natural runner. I'm 2 stone overweight but would like to lose 3. I've not ran since pre-kids 11 years ago. I hated running on the track & cross-country at school. But I want to love it. I need to lose weight & get fit. So can I make myself love running?

My sister reckons squats are good (she rubs)

This website has a good plan www.c25k.com/

runs, not rubs

3 years ago I felt the same as you . Spare time was short with two small children and it seemed the perfect way to cram the most exercise in to an hour without all the driving to the gym etc.
To start with I hated it and was out of breath before I got 200 yards down the rd but I persisted , entered local running events etc , took the joy from being slowly able to go further and faster starting at couch to 5 k , 10k , half marathons, marathons and this year my first ultra marathon of 69 miles !
I found books such as " running with the Kenyans " , " born to run" and " run fat bitch run " and " running like a girl " really inspiring . Some nice kit , gadgets and apps to map your progress and some great cheesy tunes on the iPod helped too .
Try runnersworld.co.uk - really friendly beginners section on there.

Good luck .

Come and join the C25K thread on here! Sorry can't do links from my phone but it's often on the active threads page because we all witter on so much

I can't recommend doing C25K enough - I'm 3 stone overweight and hugely unfit but started it 8 weeks ago an can now run for 28 minutes - completely unthinkable before I started. I can't say I massively enjoy running while I'm doing it and I'm not very fast, but I've lost a stone so far and feel soooo much better after each run. The thread is great for keeping motivated and the first run is only 60 seconds - definitely do-able.

Pippioddstocking -seriously an ultra marathon?!?! I'm wondering if I'll ever manage a 5k! But thankyou for encouragement.

Dottydot, thank you, I'll pop over. Got all the apps to start C25k.

Also going to recommend C25K. And when you can do 5k, do your local parkrun - it's free, it's competitive enough to make you push yourself, and friendly and mixed-ability enough to not feel intimidated whatever your pace. And it's sociable and fun....and that's the kind of thing that keeps you running.

C25k is awesome - you will see the most amazing progress in six weeks. I would say I started to really enjoy doing it (rather than having done it) after about for weeks.

Last April, a minute running was all I could ever imagine doing, and I'd always hated running.
But I did C25K, by July I did a 10km Race for Life, in September a half marathon. This year I've done a half marathon, started cycling seriously, have done a few cycle events and done a triathlon.

I can't say I love running - its hard to get out sometimes, but I do love the ability to run and how powerful I feel doing it

My experience is they if you Just. Keep. Running. You will eventually love it.

C25K seems like the best way to get involved without pushing yourself too hard too soon.
Keep going!

I agree c25k is a great start .

Once you've mastered that look up
Hashhouseharriers.co.uk - they are all over the country and really great fun .

C25k and keep going. Running is awesome but only when you can actually manage a couple of k without wanting to die. I am about to start again after 4 years off and can't wait (post op)

What they all say!

Even if I feel like I am dying during the actual run I always feel great afterwards - remembering that keeps me going.

Company helps too. For the first time in about 15 years of running I now have a standing running date with two other mums for about 6.5k on a Monday night and the time goes so quickly and enjoyably chatting our way round.