So, you’d like to begin running.  Perhaps you’ve tried it.  Here’s the deal:  you don’t have to know your time, know your pace, or match your outfit.  You only have love how running makes you feel about yourself at the end of the day. 

Here’s what’s essential to get started1:

1. Determine why you want to run.  How will running satisfy you, at your core?  If it won’t, pick something else.
2. Make it worth your time.  This is KEY!  Decide that you will give yourself credit after every run, even if you’re feeling sluggish, or didn’t finish what you thought your route might be.  With each run, you are fulfilling that commitment to yourself:  You got out there.
3. Commit to a goal that’s fun!  Buy that sassy little number that you’ll wear at Cousin Nick’s wedding.  Sign up for a race that’s sponsored by a nonprofit and raise money for it.  Without a goal, we have a tendency to flag out along the way. 
4. Commit to a time line.  When is the wedding?  When is the race? What do you have to do to make this happen?
5. Decide on what your first running route might be.  What is enough – for you?  Is it around the block?
A mile on the treadmill?
6. Decide how many times you will run this week – and this week only!  Once a week is an excellent place to start.  Go week to week.
7. Decide when you will run.  Pick a day and time, and calendar it!
8. Start slowly.  Too often we’re like greyhounds out of the gate.  Ask yourself if you could talk to someone while you run.  Give yourself permission to walk. 
9. Consider asking a friend who also runs or hiring a coach to hold you accountable for your plan.
10. Consider joining a beginning runners group.  There’s nothing like finding like-minded people. 

Here are some helpful links to find a race or a local group of runners: 
www.gvltrackclub.clubexpress.com
www.ecrun.org


Trinnie Barker, JD, CPCC, is the founder and president of Rippleffect Coaching, LLC, an organization that provides certified personal coaching to motivated professionals and small business entrepreneurs to realize their full potential.  To read how she started running, please visit her blog: www.beyondthebottomline.blogspot.com.  To see how personal coaching might meet your needs, please contact Trinnie at 252-799-1099 or trinnie@rippleffectcoaching.com.


1 Obviously, if you have not exercised before or are in any pain, consult your doctor before beginning any running program.