When I first took up road running a few years ago, I hated it. I’d grown up loving track running and cross country so pounding the pavements did not sit well given the style I was used to. I found that the impact of my shoes on the concrete streets made my knees ache afterwards and I was perpetually dodging pedestrians, trying not to twist my ankles and wondering what the etiquette was. The whole experience made me anxious.
But I stuck at it and a few months in, something clicked. I grew to love it and this was in part because I met a group of women at a run club who told me where I’d been going wrong. Firstly, I was wearing the wrong shoes. I was also running at the wrong speed – apparently, road running isn’t like track: you don’t sprint – and I wasn’t taking the time to enjoy my surroundings.
