And on the 7th Day I went running…

Hi, my name is Matt, I’m a keen amateur runner, and welcome to the site.

I started this fledgling website because, firstly, I love reading, talking, and writing about running and I wanted to create something that would be a useful resource for other runners of all abilities. It is a running website, put together (some might say cobbled) by someone who loves running and not by generic bloggers or robots feeding you biased reviews in the hope that you’ll buy things you don’t need. If there is ever a review or endorsement that does appear on this site it will be because it is something that I believe in.

Now, everyone knows that the internet is the best thing since the invention of the boiled egg slicer; at no point in history has information been so readily available. We live in a blessed age, and one must be thankful. Uncle Google can provide pretty robust answers to the sorts of existentialist questions that have embattled mankind since we first twigged that sacrificing virgins and livestock wasn’t having the desired effect. ‘What is the meaning of life?’, ‘what happens when we die?’, ‘what colour pants shall I wear today?’

Humanity it seems, has evolved past the need to ever enter a public library (or to actually talk to someone) again. But the power wielded by this keyboard, fingertip, and search engine triumvirate, is often a double-edged sword simply because there is often so much information available to us. Sometimes it is difficult to know in which direction to aim one’s google boomerang, and then once hurled, how do we begin to trust what it throws back at us?

In a nutshell, the intention is that this site will one day prove beneficial to my running comrades by housing much of the stuff they might find useful in one place, be it, from the serious matters of training plans that target a particular time or new PB, useful workout sessions incorporating treadmills, hills, speed intervals, and to the less serious matters of the day.

As it’s my first post, allow me the indulgence of telling you a little about me.
I began running back in 2006 when I realised that I needed to lose some weight. At the time I was classed as obese; I ate and drank as I pleased with no regard to my health or my expanding waistline. It was great fun at times, but I wasn’t happy. It’s a bit of a cliche but I was trapped in that whole horrid cycle of depression and comfort eating; I was depressed so I ate because it made me feel better, and because I ate and it made me depressed. I’ve heard it’s a familiar story for many people who have lost weight, there is often a turning point, a moment in time when you say to yourself, “enough is enough, I’m going to do something about this”. 

Discovering running really helped me to start feeling good about myself again and helped me break out of the cycle by giving me something positive to focus on. From experience, I know there is no magic wand to losing weight, everybody is different and everyone responds differently to various types of diet and indeed exercise. For me, what worked was being able to replace the short-term high of a comfort food binge with the longer term endorphin induced high felt after a run. All runners know it’s very addictive.

Running my first 5k distance was something I set myself as a target back in 2006 when I decided to lose weight. When I first started jogging I couldn’t run 50 metres without needing to stop (or as my good good mate Andy would say, I couldn’t even “run a bath” without getting out of breath). But I pushed on and in time the 50 metres became 500, and then it became 5000. It became easier as the weight dropped off and I started to enjoy it. There were times along the way that were tough, and where I didn’t want to run but I stuck with it and now run regularly not to lose weight but because I love it.

So, that’s me; indulgence over. I hope you enjoy the site and find it useful.

Where to start?

If you are new to running and not sure where to start, then try our running tips for beginners page or have a look at one of our beginner 5k training plans like the 5k training plan for beginners or the popular Couch to 5k training plan to get you started.

Looking for a training plan to trim that Personal Best then check out our 5k training plans or 10k Training Plan sections for a training plan that is tailored to your required race pace.

Need some workout training examples? Then have a gander at cross training for runners or some treadmill workouts for some training ideas.

You can also follow me on facebook and twitter.