I have always respectfully admired runners. I respect them for their self-discipline and for their commitment to exercise. As a former lacrosse player, I respected the cross-country team because their sport was my sport’s punishment, and always thought of their competitions as organized events designed to see who could hurt the fastest.
I hate running.
When I entered high school, my mother grew tired of driving me and decided it was time I started walking to school. Maybe this was an attempt to try and teach me about punctuality and responsibility, since she was forced to walk to school from her younger days. I was devastated at the prospect of the .89ths of a mile walk. Luckily, I lived near a bus stop, so I was able to jump on the bus every morning and avoided the effort, shattering my mother’s “back in my day” life lesson experience.
Every morning, I lined up with the same people to get on the bus, some of whom frequently pushed their way to the front of the line. I could never understand that. Why would you ever want to be the first person to get on the bus? It’s a loud, metal box filled with pubescents who either bathe in Axe, or don’t bathe at all. It is perpetually humid and filled with the smell of microwavable breakfast items, even in the afternoon. There are always at least five different genres of music leaking through “noise-canceling” ear buds into one strange, amorphous song.
I hated the bus, but I hated walking more.
Every morning, I made it my mission to minimize the time I spent on the bus as much as possible by loitering in the back of the line until the very last moment. This strategy worked extremely well because it guaranteed me a seat in the front row. At the front of the bus, there is more space, and it is easier to see outside the front windshield. For a person who is fairly susceptible to motion sickness, this was a big deal.
Every morning, the bus took the same route to school, and I quickly became familiar with the same streets and houses. More interestingly, I began to recognize the same people completing their own morning routine, particularly the joggers. By the time my senior year rolled around, I had developed a game similar to Eye Spy, using only the abundant supply of joggers living in my neighborhood. I played with the other front-row kids, and the first to spot three of the following would win for the day.
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Hip jogger mom. Usually clothed head-to-toe in Lululemon, but sometimes seen taking a fashion risk by way of Athletic hat or neon Nike shoes. She is commonly spotted pushing her two children in a jogging stroller, crushing the self-esteem of onlookers.
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The middle school kid outrunning his dad.
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The guy outrunning his dog.
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The guy who refuses to wear a shirt, regardless of the temperature.
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The woman who wears long sleeves and sweatpants regardless of the temperature.
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The perfectly matching, sunglass-wearing competitive-running couple. This couple doesn’t sweat, nor do they feel fatigue. Ever.
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The Mob. This giant cluster of people takes up an entire blocks with their morning running club. They are sponsored by the local running store Fleet Feet (I only know this running store exists because it is right next door to Baskin Robbins), and run at a pace so leisurely, even bikers feel resentful.
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The college student. Every few steps, he stops to check his watch to see how much longer his workout will last.
I hated running from a very young age. Growing up, I was never a particularly athletic child. I was easily winded and terrible at pacing myself. The first time I ran the mile in 2nd grade, I honestly thought I was going into cardiac arrest. When I was in elementary school, the entire student body had to pass a mandatory physical fitness test that involved jumping rope, doing sit-ups, throwing softballs, and of course, running the mile.
Every spring, my classmates and I would line up on the grass and run circles around a track. This track was really just a giant field, so by the time afternoon P.E. rolled around, the morning P.E. classes had already dissolved the grass into a muddy, formless ring. In a feeble attempt to maintain the track façade, our coach would place cones on the field in the shape of a wilted oval. These cones, not to mention the massive muddy potholes, prevented most kids from cheating, forcing them to run around the entire course. Most. For others it became a game to see how much mud they could kick up while running through the potholes, not only dirtying themselves, but taking down as many other runners with them as they could. I realize now that running the mile couldn’t have taken much more ten minutes, but at the time, I thought it lasted for about an hour.
Every year I took this test, and have memories of sprinting as hard as I could for the first ten feet, then abruptly stopping to gasp and wheeze from exhaustion and allergies. I also remember discussing strategies with my friends about how to make running easier. One of them included trying to teach ourselves circular breathing.
As we ran, we would sing “Mary had a Little Lamb” in our heads while breathing in for every other syllable. This was suppose to both help control and stabilize our breathing. That didn’t work very well. By the 4th grade, I figured out if I did this sort of bouncy walk, while swinging my arms with my elbows bent at a 90-degree angle, from across the field it almost appeared as if I was actually running.
After this, I managed to avoid timed running altogether until 9th grade, when I decided to join the lacrosse team. I had always aspired to join the lacrosse team.
The great thing about lacrosse is that it is fairly new to the West Coast, so everyone starts on an even playing field. Everyone I met who was on the team was extremely nice and inclusive, even to freshmen. It’s the ultimate game, a mix between soccer and hockey, with the opportunity for the defense to share in the glory, a rare event in the athletic world.
However, in order to get on the team each member had to complete a timed mile as a part of tryouts, and I was petrified. I decided to train beforehand, hoping to lessen my embarrassment in front of the upperclassmen. Weeks before tryouts, I started myself on a homemade training program. I would suit up in my only pair of black Nike shorts and a t-shirt, grab my purple Camelbak, and plug in my iPod. I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone because to my knowledge, there is nobody to impress at the Oak Grove Apartment Complex Workout Center. Instead, these clothes gave me mental encouragement and acted as a binding contract. These clothes gave me hope that I would no longer be that kid who was lapped twice by the girl with asthma. All this preparation went into a workout that barely lasted 15 minutes. I’m pretty sure it took me longer to change my clothes and mentally psych myself up than it did to actually go for a run.
Once, I decided to try the elliptical because it looked easier than the treadmill. It took me 16 minutes to go .6 miles. Lesson learned.
In the end, I managed to pass my coach’s running test, which helped me fulfill my P.E. requirement and graduate high school.
Now that I am finished with high school athletics and am in charge of my own schedule, I have gotten over my fear of running. The loathing is still there, but I stopped feeling panic-stricken every time I passed the local track across the street from my house. If you are a runner, more power to you, but you won’t see me out there. I have transitioned into following some guy in spandex on YouTube and am working on my 8-minute abs twice a week, in the privacy of my living room floor.
Tags: annaliese yukawa, baskin robbins, how are your eight-minute abs, running
I’m with you! I hate running as well.
Agreed. I am really glad this article was just “I hate running, full stop” and not “I hated running… BUT THEN I learned to love it!” (ahem, comments below). Enough people have told me that running is amazing. I get it. It is nice to hear from my slog-footed sisters. Let us ride the bus past the joggers together.
Obligatory: “I know it’s healthy, but God, at what cost?”
I will never stop resenting high school gym teachers for making me run a mile. Well, trying to. I’m sure I walked most of it, in the manner described here, to make it look like I was maybe running. And it seemed like the football field was always being cut when we were doing it, further exacerbating breathing issues.
I tried running again last year, but I think I need to accept it’s just not for me. Although I haven’t honestly found the exercise that is right for me, yet.
Every couple of years I’ll be like “oh, it can’t be THAT bad, can it?” and it ALWAYS IS. After I ended up on my knees dry-heaving on the sidewalk a couple of years ago I have finally admitted to myself that it is probably never going to happen for me.
At what cost, indeed. That beautiful tropical starfish Ann is so right!
I also hate running, though I did it a lot for sports in high school and was pretty good at it then.
They didn’t make us run the mile until high school, though — you ran the mile in SECOND GRADE?! That seems crazy to me, and a really long distance for little legs to have to run. I’m curious to see if other people had this experience.
My kids’ school has a “running club” which everyone pretty much has to be a part of. In the spring, they run laps for beads that the kids then wear on necklaces or lace them onto their shoelace. It starts in kindergarten- my little one runs a mile faster than I do.
Ugh, running. I hate it, my boobs can’t take it, and I’d rather swim laps.
That said, I’ve pretty much become fitness-phobic about everything since quitting high school sports and have been trying to get myself back in the pool for years, to no avail. So.
UGH.
YES. I actually really wish I could run — it’s so much cheaper and easier to do than the one form of cardio that my body can tolerate (swimming, which I usually do at the county rec center, which is JUST far enough from me to make it a challenge for me to get over there, especially given that I have to get there literally the minute they open at 5AM if I want a lane).
Admittedly, after I described the physical sensations I experience when running to a friend who does love it, and her face became more and more horrified as I went on until she could tell me that every single thing I had mentioned was on the list she had gotten from cross-country coaches of “if you experience any one of these, stop what you’re doing and see a doctor immediately” symptoms. Fun story: turns out I have mild asthma! So now I feel like a triple badass for the marathon I ran in middle school, which is something.
Hooray! Great post. I’ve thought so any similar things when it comes to running. Hope to hear from you more AY!
I hate the actual act of running so much, but have recently taken it up, for some reason. Mostly because I like how I feel when I’m doing some sort of exercise and I like not having to spend that much time thinking about it. I looooove “Feel the Burn”, but I don’t really like having to think about my workouts that much. I just run for a while and do some push-ups. That’s as much of a plan as I can muster after working all day. I have a quasi-RPG post-apocalyptic zombies-are-chasing-you app that makes it more fun, though. I also really like looking at the map of my run afterward and seeing just how much ground I covered. I like feeling like I’m taking up space.
I agree! Taking up space is good. It mitigates even the lead-chested, white-blotched, rattling limp-run that is my trademark. Since I started ‘Feel the Burn’ I run faster and further than I ever could before, for which I am SO grateful. Fuck those downward dog pushups though. I really will not do those.
Hahaha. I’m still on lady push-ups but I was doing no push-ups before Feel the Burn, so progress! I will not do burpees, though.
I do like this attitude to fitness. Basically positive but, when pressed, The Dowager Duchess. “Madam! You go too far with these burpees! I really must draw the line.”
Do 1 on your toes pushup. I bet you can do it! (PS: keep your butt down)
If I were a Thanksgiving turkey I’d hate me, because I’m made of almost entirely white meat.
…this comment ended up a lot stranger than I intended. Whatever. Running is hard, sprinting for lyfe. #gobblegobble
I hate running because I get really bored.
Recently I have taken up zumba, because I’m pretty terrible at following choreography so I have to stay pretty engaged the entire class in order not to crash into all of the other people dancing around me.
I would rather do nearly *any* other form of physical activity than running. Biking, swimming, climbing, dead-lifting, anything. Even the elliptical. I’ll hike for 7 hours, but don’t make me run that same distance. No thank you. The only time I run is if I have to catch a bus.
I started running about 18 months ago. At age 33. Never having done anything athletic whatsoever for the bulk of my life (unless you count marching band. Yes. I’m going to count marching band.). I still can’t go more than 3.25 miles. I really wanted to go for a 10K, but it seems so daunting. Still. You’d think I would be accustomed to the 3 mile run at this point. But nope. Not at all (probably doesn’t help that I don’t go nearly enough. I need to be running 3-4 times a week. I might muster twice a week if I’m really good.) Ugh. Running. I love you and I hate you.
Oh, hi. We are practically the same person, down to the marching band and distance and runs a week and everything (except I’m 28). I really think adding one more run a week will make a world of difference, but Parks and Rec is on tonight, so….
Marching band TOTALLY counts.
Actually, I was kinda ripped in high school. I played the mellophone. That shit is heavy. The average marching band program was about 15 minutes. I had to hold that thing up for not only the shows, but 4 hour practices.
Then I was drum major- so I still had awesome arms.
I should take up marching band again…
I hate running — past a certain point. I get SO bored on long runs. So this past year, when my hedonistic life had finally grown me a not-particularly-attractive belly, I decided to cut back and take up running for the summer. But I was adamant I’d run no more than 1 mile at a time. It was hard just finishing at first, but now I can stretch, run, and cool down in about 20 minutes. And then I’m done. I focus on improving my time instead of increasing distance, so I run hard enough that I feel like I’ve had a good workout. The belly has been tamed if not slayed, so I’m content. And sooner or later I may just have a brag-able mile time (not sure who I’d brag to, but it’s there, just waiting….)
Running is my least favourite physical activity. My hips are wide and I definitely over pronate so I can’t manage a city block before my knees cry in pain. But it’s also the most accessible way to get cardio for me – no need to join a team or spend a big chunk of cash on equipment, I just put on my shoes and go. Sigh, maybe it’s time for me to learn how to bike.
Have you thought about changing your gait? I used to have lots of knee pain (I also overpronate), but switched to a midfoot strike. Now I’ve been pain-free for almost two years.
Whoa, googling immediately!
Oh god, discovering barefoot shoes and forefoot running made SUCH a difference for me. I trained for a marathon with traditional shoes and heel strikes and ended up with hip and knee pain and bursitis (perhaps unrelated). Almost 8 years later, I’ve started back up again and don’t have nearly the same problems. I do have to be more careful of running surfaces, but since I’m running with my dog and she does better when we’re out in the wood anyway, it works out well for both of us.
First mile always SUCKS though. Always. Every distance runner I have ever talked to says the first mile sucks forever.
I too, never learned to pace myself. I can sprint, and I love the feeling of going fast, but once I’ve gotten over the initial burst of speed, I’m done. And the only way to keep running is to shorten my stride, which leads to shin splints. Running also often leads to side stitches. But I can swim for 30 minutes and not want to get out of the water.
I will refrain from crashing this party by giving a speech about how running can be great (it really can!), but I will say this: if you want to try running and haven’t liked it or done it much before, you should take the distance or time you think you are capable of, divide it by one fourth, or one eighth if you are smart, and then run that distance at about half the pace you think you can do. I know that for me, the only reason I started to like running at age 26 was because I forced myself to go at a child’s pace, and interspersed the running with walking. Once I got used to it, I stopped the walking, but otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten through the initial stages.
Fleet Feet, though. I tried doing one of their group runs once, when I was training for a half-marathon and was sure I could handle it. Within a few minutes ALL of them (except one nice lady who took pity on me) were out of my sight. I never went back.
Why would I quadruple my distance if I already am dreading the initial distance!?!?!?! D:
No, no! You quarter it, or eighth it, so if you think you can run a mile, try running a quarter mile, or an eighth of a mile, first. Most people start out way too hard and too fast!
I knew what you meant, I was just making a nerdy math joke. I thought I had edited it to explain, sorry! “take the distance or time you think you are capable of, divide it by one fourth, or one eighth”.
Dividing by 0.25 is the same as multiplying by 4 🙂
Ha! Contrary to appearances, I can do basic math!
I freakin’ loved using the elliptical machines at my college gym. None of the sharp pains I associated with running (hi, creaky joints and big boobs/terrible sports bras, good to see you here), got all sweaty, felt hardcore. Now that Pacific Rim exists I want to go pretend I’m piloting a Jaeger. But I am way too cheap to join a gym. Alas!
Running people: What methods do you use to avoid the dreaded stitch-in-the-side? I have been trying so hard to run and get my distances up (I’ve been dreadfully low for most of my life due to undiagnosed asthma, hooray), but I tend to get to about a mile before I have to stop and nearly vomit thanks to intense side cramps. I’ve had some success by paying attention to my breath and not letting it get too shallow, but it doesn’t help that much. What am I doing wrong? Is it because I’m ridiculously short-waisted, somehow? Help?
That might be a…medical thing, or something really to do with asthma, but the most important things I find are to a) be super well hydrated before I run but NOT to drink or eat 30 mins before I start, (both of these really important), b) to stretch out properly and warm up and c), to know that you can run through a stitch, usually, if you slow right down and keep on going gently.
Yessss to the hydrating well BEFORE you run. I’ll start drinking water a good couple hours before and it makes a world of difference.
For me it was really all about learning to expand my lungs and breathe deeply enough. If you have asthma that might be part of the issue.
But I’m also in the camp of those who finally just had to accept that they hate running. I started slow and built up gradually, like you’re supposed to (did the Couch to 5K thing). For a while I was running 3 miles several days a week. I still just hated it. I liked that it made me feel strong and somewhat accomplished to be doing something I never thought I’d be able to, but I was also bored as hell.
All of the above – hydrating well but stopping before too close to the run. To run through a stitch, try exhaling when the foot on the opposite side of the stitch lands on the ground. So if your stitch is on your right side, you’ll exhale when your left foot hits the ground.
In my experience, deep breathing works best when I visualize pushing the air all the way into the cramp.
And, this is not the most attractive solution, but sometimes I do the breathing while grabbing and pulling the chub directly above the cramp. It’s sort of awkward to run like that, but it helps!
(Also, sometimes I just stop running).
Oh man, I used to get stitches so bad when I ran the dreaded mile in middle school. Then I started running “for serious” about a year ago, and while I still get stitches sometime, they’re not nearly as painful or as frequent. I’m not really sure what I’m doing passively (drinking more water? eating more vegetables?), but actively, the main difference is that I time my breaths with my strides and, if I’m breathing such that I start to exhale on the same foot every time (like if I’m breathing every two strides), I make sure I switch once in a while. I read about this somewhere on The Internet, and it’s helped me, although who knows if this is a legit solution or if it’s just that I’m slowing down my breathing or breathing more deeply or something.
Side stitches have to do with what you eat/drink beforehand. Don’t eat too much! And pay attention to what you eat before the runs where you get a side stitch, then avoid those snacks in the future. I think simple carbs are the best before a run. I’ve also heard that you should be careful you don’t over-hydrate.
I agree w/ all the above & especially watching what you eat beforehand. I haven’t kept enough track of what causes side-stitches for me, but I do remember a particularly horrific one when I ran too soon after eating a cheesy tuna melt. Now, if I’m hungry before a work out I will stick to a banana and/or a spoonful of peanut butter, but will still try and wait a bit before starting. That said, I don’t usually run long distances (where eating before / during is more important).
Definitely agree about what you eat before and on breathing – try to breathe with your stomach first to make sure you’re breathing deeply. Also slow down, and I find it helps to keep my arms low and minimize their movement, even keeping them straight at my sides sometimes.
Most of you won’t see this but thanks all for the suggestions! I am not always the best about hydrating, although I am usually careful not to eat anything too heavy/car-y for a while before I run. And I’ll definitely keep stretching and breathing deeply!
On the breathing front, a tip I read one time was that if you experience a side stitch, try pursing your lips as you breathe out so you really have to force it out. It forces you to tighten up your abs and that helps. I went through a period of time where I couldn’t run without getting a side stitch and I found that pursing on my out breaths made a world of difference!
Also, I found this article really interesting and have had great results when I use the technique: http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/running-…
Running the mile in elementary school, I deliberately tripped over a rock so I could stop. I still have a scar. I don’t regret this in the least.
In high school they made us run 2.4km as our fitness test (1.5 miles), which may be why Canadians are marginally more fit than Americans! I managed to avoid it every single year through a combination of “knee injuries” when I had a female gym teacher, graphically described uterine woes when I had a male gym teacher, and one year I just cheated on it and no one noticed. RUNNING.
That said, no matter how low my running stamina ever got I would always rather walk a short distance than cram in a bus with my sweaty peers first thing in the morning.
Ugh, that mile run in elementary. I always thought that since I couldn’t run a full mile on that test, I was incapable of running. Turns out, I’d just never increased my stamina, so of course I couldn’t do a mile, what the hell? I got into running about a year and a half ago via Couch to 5k (aka run a block, then walk three, etc.) and ran my first 5k this summer. WHY DON’T YOU TEACH SMALL CHILDREN THIS, SCHOOLS?
I have developed a taste for running, and even managed to run all summer long (including 112 degree Texas summer) for the last 5 years or so, but I was defeated this year by the first trimester of pregnancy. I ran twice at the very beginning, and then was too tired to function for about 3 months.
I ran again for the first time last night, just two miles, and although I was pretty slow and have given myself a cough due to running in the (mild) cold, I am so happy to be running again. SECOND TRIMESTER HIGH FIVE!
I’m working on becoming a runner! I currently do sprints and walking interspersed with one another. I used to hate it, but as I get better at it and can now do it without feeling like I’m going to die at any moment, it’s not actually that bad. The hardest thing for me is making sure to keep up with my breathing, I apparently have a tendency to not breath deeply enough.
I like running! But only on the treadmill, at the gym, where I can psych myself up by doing math with the LED display numbers (I am currently running an 8:15 mile, only 5 minutes to go before the 2 mile mark, let’s count down every quarter-minute, let’s just go until 20 minutes, then 3 miles, then 300 calories, then 30 minutes… [I know the calories metric is BS, I use it as another way to mark time]).
Outdoors there are people to share the sidewalk with, which I suck at (I am always bumping into people even when I try to avoid them), and there is weather, which is somehow always Not Right, and there are creepy dudes who drive reeeeaaaal slow so they get to leer at you for longer. And there’s no LED screen math! Counting paces is nowhere near as fun.
This makes me feel so much better about being rubbish at running. I had grand plans to start a c25k program last spring, including the purchase of new running shoes, sports bras, and even leggings, but I never even did the first run on the program. Instead, I’m using those bras and leggings to do yoga and/or at home strength/stretch exercises, and I’ve used the running shoes to take my dog for more walks. And you know what? I’m done feeling guilty about it. Fuck you, running.
My parents are these naturally very thin, outdoorsy people who sweat for fun and think eating a whole jar of peanut butter in one sitting, with a spoon, is normal behavior. I hate sweating, my skin and eyes revolt in bright sunlight, and I’m built like a brick shithouse. In an effort to beat the outdoorsy-ness into me, my parents made me do physical stuff, constantly. I was required to spend at least two hours a day mountain biking, skiing, hiking, kayaking, or snowshoeing. (Being homeschooled was the worst.) Sometimes if they thought I was getting too fat, I had to do this with ankle weights strapped to me.
So despite the fact that my parents clearly thought they had given birth to a lazy Pilsbury Doughgirl, I was actually pretty ripped in my teenage years. I, like, won canoe races and skiing events! Two hours a day of mandatory cardio will do that!
However, there has never been a point where I could run a mile without throwing up. Never. Not once. I maintain a crippling fear of ever having to run in front of other human beings.
(Also I do not exercise now, much to my parents horror. Think of me as an early test run for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign — telling your kid they’re fat and making them exercise will likely not always produce lifelong fitness-oriented people. Or thin people. Or happy people.)
I intensely dislike running but I intensely like being by myself and listening to terrible music loudly. It’s how I get away from my toddler: a sweaty 2.5 miles with Couch to 5K a few times a week. I just got new shoes to lure myself into staying with it during the first trimester.
(My running music playlist right now is really A+: Bikini Kill, Britney, Ministry, Bad Religion.)
Cosigning alla dis. I still find running difficult, but it’s got a meditative quality I’m starting to find appealing (and that is harder for me to find during, say, seated meditation). I don’t usually get blissed out while I run, but it’s easier to stay in the present moment. “Oh god it’s the hill, how are we already at the hill, we are on the hill, I hate this hill, this hill is horrible, agh finally top of the hill now we get to run downhill thank god slower slower, yay finally the flat trail, look at the deer.”
Current playlist here is heavy on the Ramin Djawadi–when the jaeger program starts up, I plan to be ready.
I too was a child who hated running, and the annual physical fitness exams at school, but then someone talked me into doing a triathlon 5 years ago and in the training process, to my shock and horror, I found my running game. Now it’s my main form of exercise, and I like it a lot. Especially races, which are the best because the racing community is wonderful and encouraging and kind (in my experience). But that’s me. Everyone who hates running, go ahead! Hate it all you want, and don’t feel guilty or shamed. Getting to choose what you do for fun and/or exercise is one of the upsides of being grown. (And let’s really enjoy those upsides, because sometimes the downsides can be BALLS.)
I too was a child who hated running, and the annual physical fitness exams at school, but then someone talked me into doing a triathlon 5 years ago and in the training process, to my shock and horror, I found my running game. Now it's my main form of exercise, and I like it a lot. Especially races, which are the best because the racing community is wonderful and encouraging and kind (in my experience). But that's me. Everyone who hates running, go ahead! Hate it all you want, and don't feel guilty or shamed. Getting to choose what you do for fun and/or exercise is one of the upsides of being grown. (And let's really enjoy those upsides, because sometimes the downsides can be BALLS.)
oh thank god, I thought I was the only one who despised running! Never been a runner at all, tried the c25k and wanted to die even in week one!
I’m trying to get back into swimming, and now that it’s nearly summer here, I’m hoping that will help (I swim in an indoor heated pool, so frankly, it makes no difference, but the thought of getting all wet in winter is too much)
oh thank god, I thought I was the only one who despised running! Never been a runner at all, tried the c25k and wanted to die even in week one!
I'm trying to get back into swimming, and now that it's nearly summer here, I'm hoping that will help (I swim in an indoor heated pool, so frankly, it makes no difference, but the thought of getting all wet in winter is too much)
I hated running in high school. I quit soccer team when they told us we would do more running. But I hated soccer anyway, so. I had only joined it because an ear infection kept me from swimming.
I came to like running in my mid 20s, but running does not like me back. I’ve done a few 5Ks and two sprint triathlons, but can never get farther than that without an injury. Let’s see, I’ve had a strained hamstring, runner’s knee, hip bursitis, and now I’m enjoying a case of plantar fasciitis that refuses to heal. When I do run, it’s a 13-minute mile. Too bad, because running is logistically easy and gets me outside and makes me feel great until the inevitable injury.