mel in the milkyway: The things no one tell you would happen when you run

currently: tired. with blisters.

It's been almost a month since I last blogged about my "running decision" - which to be fair isn't as much a decision, but now a test of survival. The 8.4km Round the Bays event is this Sunday in Auckland, and I can say that I have trained for it this past month.

But of course I use the words "train" very loosely.

I think the only thing that motivates me to run every few days is that, one: it's one way to visit my favourite beach, two: it gets me away from the computer and enjoy some fresh air, and three: I'm scared of passing out during the race. The thought of being "that person" being carted away on a stretcher has been enough to get me to put my running shoes on.

Don't get me wrong though - I'm not a fan of running and I'm not a runner. But I have noticed some things that do happen when you run. It's like understanding another culture. And it's weird.

The things no one tells you would happen when you run:

How excited you get over running accessories.

I won a free waist belt pouch thing at The Colour Run a couple of weeks ago and the words "I can't wait to use this" actually came out of my mouth. And this waist belt is just a sporty fanny pack. Who the heck gets excited over a sporty fanny pack? I guess this is like the equivalent of getting a new dress and wanting to wear it out fancy places. So I can see why people always instagram their running shoes like it's some expensive Oscars gown.

How sore you feel when you DON'T run.
Which is unreasonable. My body doesn't hurt so much when I run (other than from exhaustion), but if I go three days without running, my body begins to ache. How is it that when I'm not even moving that much and my body hurts from it. It doesn't make sense.

If you carry your phone while running, you feel the need to take photos every time.
I don't know if it's because I often run to the beach but every run I've done, I've taken photos on my phone. I ran past a group of ducks and felt I had to stop to take snaps of it. It's not like I haven't seen ducks before, or haven't seen the beach before. I can literally take out my phone and show you every photo I've taken while I've gone for my runs.

That you start seeing runners everywhere.

Maybe it's more the season than the fact that I am running too, but it's like I can see runner after runner after runner. And they don't seem to stop frequently like I do. So in some ways it feels like a competition as we run on opposite sides of the street and the first one to stop loses. I'm usually the first one to stop.

You feel more curious hearing details of other people running.
Before last month, I honestly did not give a stuff whether or not you ran 20km. But now, if I hear a friend of mine ran 10km in over an hour, that stuff actually becomes interesting. Or maybe it's cause I can't even manage half that in that time.

That running DOES NOT get easier the more you do it.

Every street is struggle street.

Only one more week to go...