{"id":12515,"date":"2026-01-02T22:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=12515"},"modified":"2026-01-02T22:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:29:18","slug":"jog-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/02\/jog-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Jog on"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a moment of weakness I agreed to go for a run with one of the offspring while everyone was staying with us over Christmas.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never seen the appeal of jogging. My parents used to do it back in the 80s. It seemed a strange thing to do to yourself even then, especially when the man most famous for popularising it died while out running at the age of 52 (RIP Jim Fixx). Perversely , the dream used to be to die with your running shoes on, like a cowboy dying in the saddle. \u00a0My dad did in fact drop dead at a tragically early age whilst out jogging, although quite rightly we blamed his heart attack on years of smoking and his love of food and sugary drinks in a time before statins, rather than anything inherent in that type of exercise (RIP Alastair, 61, objectively the best dad ever). I used to ask him why he ran, and he described the appeal as like hitting your head against a brick wall and then stopping. This may explain why he never went into motivational speaking, or sales for that matter. Certainly people out running never look like they\u2019re having much fun. I always found moving to music easier, and then there is always the dogs that need walking as a push to exertion. Team sports are also a motivational factor, as I found with my departmental netball team, the downside being that if you\u2019re rubbish at it then you\u2019re letting everyone else down. Plus, you need friends to be in a team.
\nSo, agreeing to go for a run really came out of the blue. I hadn\u2019t realised I was \u201crunning curious\u201d but I suppose I considered it a bonding exercise. Our first run was only fifteen minutes, and wasn\u2019t great fun but not too arduous because we spent most of the time talking.<\/p>\n

We went again the next day, and that was the nadir as far as I\u2019m concerned. We continued with the chat which made it bearable but every now and again I would notice I was running and think \u201cthis really is awful\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, I stuck with it. I missed last Tuesday because I had to go to work, but every other day I\u2019ve been out with various family members. Simon told me a few days ago that you have to do it for over 20 minutes to \u201cmake it worthwhile\u201d vis a vis the health benefits and I\u2019ve only cracked that a couple of times but I\u2019m not doing too badly for a complete beginner.
\nThis morning was my first run alone, since everyone else has gone back into town. My ankle has been a bit sore so I\u2019m wary. With no one to talk to, I tried listening to music this morning. I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s wrong with my ears, but my EarPods keep falling out. I suppose potentially it\u2019s another distraction to take my mind off exercising but it can\u2019t be good for them falling onto the gravel all the time (have I just voided my warranty?) I picked the first likely looking running playlist which started off OK but it was all downhill after Take On Me by A-ha. Honestly, did anyone really like Madonna\u2019s music, or was it just a cult of personality?<\/p>\n

\"\"
Screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I posted this on Strava, as you can see I\u2019m too much of a neophyte to know how bad my stats are, long may it last. I had only intended to run for twenty minutes, but I\u2019d had enough after the fifth song, which I calculated should be around 15 minutes. Aren\u2019t songs three minutes long? Anyway, I accidentally ran for over 26 minutes.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, I was listening to a podcast on Stoicism last week. Real stoics would tell you that you should be doing something unpleasant every day just for the sake of it. I wonder if the health benefits would actually detract from its stoic value? It\u2019s hard to imagine Marcus Aurelius out jogging, but then I\u2019m not a classical scholar, to be fair.
\nAs I say, I was contemplating giving the whole thing away as recently as yesterday. It\u2019s much easier to be motivated in company, and it doesn\u2019t even count as a New Year\u2019s resolution since I started too early, although someone did try to tell me this week that preemptive resolutions are even better. However, I must confess that I dreamed about running shoes last night, so maybe this habit has got legs after all. I know my dad would be proud.
\nNow, a quick shower and then off to the shoe shop.<\/p>\n

\u2026..<\/p>\n

ps \u201cJog on\u201d used to be a more polite synonym for \u201cF**k off\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a moment of weakness I agreed to go for a run with one of the offspring while everyone was staying with us over Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3fR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4164,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/04\/old-scheduling-email-30-oct-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":12515,"position":0},"title":"Old scheduling email 30 Oct 2015","author":"Interloper11","date":"February 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve got most of this week off, although I\u2019m bucking the trend by coming back to work on Friday after the Waitangi Day holiday on Thursday (have to get that newsletter out - plus they\u2019ve got me working clinically because every other bastard is on leave.) 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