i went jogging for the first time in ten years

13 Aug, 2026

Tuesday night, I was watching a YouTube video where someone mentioned that they've went for a run every day for the past ten years¹. When the YouTuber said that, I thought, I wish I could be that kind of person. Then I thought, How do I become that kind of person?, looked up "how to start running for beginners", and began my research.

I'm incredibly sedentary for a couple of reasons. First, I work from home and have the kind of job that is micromanaged enough that I need to be at or near my desk almost constantly. Second, I don't drive, so I don't run errands on my own after work. Third, I live in Texas, and it's miserably hot here for about half of the year. I don't just hang out outside if I can help it, unless I'm in the pool in the backyard. Fourth, I have never really enjoyed physical activity nor do I have the hand-eye coordination that sports require.

In my sophomore year of high school, I took track & field. I struggled with things like jumping over hurdles or cross-country running, but I enjoyed sprints and doing a mile a few times a week. I was never anywhere near good enough to compete in those types of things, but it was a relatively pleasant way to get my physical education credit. I remember that I liked how I could be running on the outside, but inside, I was absorbed by my thoughts. I did not continue running after sophomore year.

When I was looking up how to begin running, I found a lot of mentions of Couch to 5K. This program consists of nine weeks made up of three runs each (typically a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday run) and is aimed at people who are totally sedentary like myself. By the end of it, you should be able to jog or run consistently for a half hour. You're not guaranteed to be running a 5K in distance at the end of the program, so the name is a bit misleading, but once you're able to job or run consistently for half an hour, then I guess you can look at your pace and begin speeding up. At the start, you're doing intervals between walking and running, and as the weeks progress, the intervals for running become longer to allow you to build up your stamina.

What I liked about this program is that it isn't some official app or paid product or subscription. It was easy to find a downloadable .pdf with the running plan laid out, and there are so many iOS apps that come up if you search "couch to 5K" in the app store (like I did). I ended up going with one called Just Run: Zero to 5K specifically because it had a voiceover feature that would let me know when to run, when to walk, and when I was at the halfway point of my run and could turn around. Also, the app was free, although there is a paid version if you want to thank the app developer.

I thought about when I would run. Again, it's hot as hell, and I knew that the only time of day that it's cooler (not cool, because it's still 78F/25C) is in the morning. If I wanted to have time to run and shower before the start of my work day, I'd need to be running at 6:30AM. Sorry, but that sounds awful to me. I wish I could say I'd hop out of bed and do it, but I can easily imagine myself making excuses to sleep in, turning my alarm off, etc. I didn't want to set myself up for failure like this.

On the other hand, I could run after work. At 4:30PM, it's 96F/35C outside. I have about an hour of free time after work, and it wouldn't be as easy for me to find excuses to not run. Sure, I'd be sweaty and flushed afterward, but I could still shower that away before needing to start on dinner. So yesterday, that's what I did! I did my first Couch to 5K run.

It might sound stupid, but I was a bit worried that after ten years, I had forgotten how to run. I'm glad that I hadn't, although I certainly felt awkward. I was also a little bit embarrassed by how out of shape I am, and how quickly I got winded. Each session starts and ends with a warmup/cooldown of walking for 5 minutes, and during this first week, you do 1 minute of running and 1.5 minutes of walking, eight times. I absolutely struggled with this. During the last three or four running intervals, I was technically jogging, but I could feel myself going so incredibly slow. I was walking faster during my five minute warm up. But I pushed myself forward, slower than ever, because I wanted to be able to say I did it.

The heat wasn't as bad as I had thought it might be, probably due to a lot of houses in this neighborhood having trees that hang over the sidewalk and provide shade. I made a mistake in not bringing any water with me though. We don't buy plastic single-use water bottles in my household, and the reusable water bottles we do have are all bulky and large (made of aluminum, holding up to 50oz/1.5L) or small and without a handle thus awkward to hold. I didn't want to not run after having gotten excited and committed to doing it, though, so I went without a water bottle. My mouth got so dry that it actually hurt. I will not make that mistake again and I was able to find a cheap plastic reusable bottle (and a crossbody sling to carry it in) for my next run.

Yes, my next run! I want to stick with it. Even if I need to repeat some runs or repeat entire weeks, I really want to do this. I feel like I've done pretty well this year about eating healthier (both in contents of meals and in portion sizes) and I want the next step of my health journey to be improving my heart health and getting physically active.

Last night before bed, my calves were already sore from the run. This morning, it hurt a little bit to put weight on my left knee, and I was a bit concerned at first. Like, did I fuck up already? Can I still run tomorrow? As the day went on and I moved around the house and went up/downstairs a little more, that pain went away. I'm both dreading and looking forward to running tomorrow - it'll probably be another after-work run rather than in the morning - just because yesterday definitely wasn't easy for me.

I learned to bring a bottle of water tomorrow though, and I learned to really slow down at the start of my run if I want to be able to continue jogging and not struggle through those last couple intervals. If I still struggle just as much, that's okay, though! I'm just proud of myself for doing it and for being determined to see improvement, even if it takes longer than expected.

#physicalhealth