You don't have to be a runner to start here
Running is how I got here, BUT It MIGHT NOT BE THE START OF YOUR JOURNEY.
Did I always like running? Nope. Hated it. At school, running was a punishment, the thing they made you do when you'd mucked about in PE.
I started in July 2007, living in New Zealand, because I wanted to lose weight. My first run was about a mile. It took me just under 20 minutes, and it nearly killed me. If you'd told me then that I'd one day run a 2:45 marathon, I'd have laughed, and then probably had a sit down.
So when someone tells me "I'm not a runner", I get it. I’ve said it many times!
Here's the thing, though. You don't need to be a runner to start looking after yourself. You don't need to be anything. You just need to start somewhere, keep it small, and keep turning up. I promise you, that's most of it.
If running isn't your thing, or isn't your thing yet, this one's for you, folks.
Why "I'm not a runner" stops people before they start
"I'm not a runner" sounds like a fact. Most of the time it's a worry in disguise, and it usually means one of these:
I'll be slow, and people will see.
I tried before and it hurt.
I don't look like the people in the adverts.
If I can't do it properly, what's the point?
Every one of those is about identity, not ability. And identity is a funny place to start, because nobody feels like a runner, a gym person or a "fit person" until they've been at it a while. The identity turns up after the habit. Not before.
I know this because I spent 16 years starting and stopping. I got fit, got fat, got fit, got fat again. When I first started, I tried to run every run faster than the one before, and I was constantly injured. Every restart began with a big plan and a big idea of who I was about to become. New trainers. New plan. New me. Every January, without fail.
What finally worked wasn't turning into a different person. It was lowering the bar. Doing small, kind of unremarkable things often enough that they stopped feeling like a big deal, with people around me who'd notice if I didn't show up.
What counts (SPOILER: more than you think)
If you're wondering whether what you're doing "counts", the answer is almost certainly yes. Any of these is a perfectly good place to start:
Walking. A brisk 20-minute walk is proper exercise. It gets your heart going, clears your head, and you can do it in your work shoes, walking shoes, or even bare foot (if that’s your thing).
Strength work. Ten minutes of squats, lunges and planks on the living room floor. No gym, no kit, no gym bros. It's what the Strength Library in the Club is built around, and I'd be lost without strength work in my own training.
Getting moving again. Taking the stairs, a bike ride with the kids, walking the dog. If you've been doing nothing for a while, anything is a step up.
Run-walking. If you're curious about running, mixing short bits of jogging into a walk is how loads of people start. And no, walking in the middle of a run isn't cheating. It took me until my forties to accept that. It's not weak. It's just different.
The UK guidelines for adults suggest around 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, plus some strength work on two days. Notice that running isn't on that list. A brisk walk does the job, and so does ten minutes of bodyweight work.
And if 150 minutes sounds like a lot right now, don't worry about it. Ten minutes is better than none, and it's a lot easier to build on.
How to start this week
You don't need a 12-week plan. You need a first week you can actually finish. Here's how I'd do it:
Pick one thing. Not three. One. A walk, a ten-minute strength session, whatever you'll really do on a wet Tuesday in November.
Make a promise small enough to keep. "Three 20-minute walks this week" beats "every day at 6am". Trying to do something every day from a standing start is a path to failure. Trust me, I've tried it. The point is to get to Sunday having kept your word.
Put it in the diary. Give it a day and a time, like a meeting. "Lunchtime Monday, Wednesday and Friday" is a plan. "When I get a chance" isn't.
Write it down afterwards. A note on your phone is fine. Ticking it off feels good, and after a few weeks you'll have proof that you're someone who turns up. A walk counts.
Tell someone. A mate, your partner, a group chat. It's a lot harder to quietly sack something off when someone's going to ask how it went.
Plan for the bad week. It'll happen. Work gets busy, the kids get ill, you get ill. When it does, don't try to make up for it. Rest, then do the next small thing. Missing once is life. The trick is not missing twice.
That's it. No crash diets, no 30-day transformations. Not every session has to be amazing. Sometimes you just get out, get it done and move on. Small promises, kept, week after week. That's what adds up.
If running does become your thing
Some people walk for months and never want to run. Absolutely fine. Others find themselves wondering what it'd feel like to jog to the next lamppost. If that's you, a few things I learned the hard way:
Go slower than you think. Most new runners go off too fast, feel awful and decide running isn't for them. My test is simple: can I still sing? If not, slow down. I started at around 10 minutes per kilometre, and that was fine.
Mix running and walking. Run for a minute, walk for two, repeat. Programmes like the NHS Couch to 5K app are built exactly this way, and they work.
Keep the strength work. Stronger legs and a stronger core make running feel easier and help you keep going week after week.
Don't compare your start to someone else's middle. Comparison is the thief of joy. The people you see flying past have been at it for years. They all started somewhere too.
There will be plenty of running talk in the PKS Training Club. Easy running, pacing and race prep, and how to avoid sh*tting yourself when your runs get longer (I’ve got MANY stories and even a dedicated t-shirt in the store 😜.) So whether you stick with walking or decide to have a go at a 5K, you'll have people around you doing the same.
Start where you are
You don't need to call yourself a runner. You don't need the kit, the watch or the perfect plan. You need one small thing this week, and someone who'll notice when you do it.
That's why I built the PKS Training Club. It's a community of ordinary people working on the same stuff as you: moving more, eating well and making it a normal part of the week. Every week has a simple rhythm:
Sunday: I share one thing to focus on.
Monday: you make a promise small enough to keep.
Every day: you log what you did. A walk counts.
Wednesday: a 12:30 lunchtime webinar on the week's focus.
Saturday: highs and lows. What went well, what didn't.
I'm opening 15 founding places at £20 a month, yours for as long as you stay a member. Get on the list and you'll be the first to hear when the doors open.
Have a great week, folks. See you in there.
Paul
The information in this post is general guidance. If you have pain, an injury or a medical concern, speak to your GP or a physio before starting something new.
