Why do I love running….?

Why do I love running?

Introduction

Running for me is the best way to relax after a tough day. It’s a real pleasure and I always have a good feeling after a one hour stint. I prefer to run alone because I want to create my own rhythm and it’s better to be alone to reflect on my day, my job or my life. This activity helps me to boost my energy and to feel healthy. Some days I try to run forty-five minutes to one hour with a light heart rate, just to relax myself and other days thirty minutes with a high heart rate – it’s good to mix running styles from jogging to sprinting to help burn more calories and to keep your body on its toes. 

But running isn’t easy. There are lots of parameters which help you to run or to stay at home. The best parameters are: to challenge oneself, to feel healthy, the motivation and the worst parameters are: “to stay at home” because I prefer to watch TV, I’m exhausted after working eight hours, the weather and so on. But I think if I want, I can do.
I played football for eighteen years and after that I stopped doing any activity because I was bored so I started to run six month ago. The first time was so difficult and I set myself a goal to run about thirty minutes, but I couldn’t. My body wasn’t up to the challenge due to the lack of sport and exercise over the past years so the second time I changed my goal and adapted my effort. I ran between fifteen and thirty minutes with a light heart rate and after two months I could run about thirty to forty minutes with the same effort and I continued this twice a week. Actually I run three times per weeks with a different heart rate level to work my endurance. I don’t’ make a fitness program because running is a pleasure, not an obligation for me and my goal is always the same: enjoy and relax (it’s also a personal challenge to achieve a big effort).

Healthy activity and a way to relax
Before I run, I do some exercises to stretch my muscles and to warm up my body, because the best way to injury oneself is: to start running without a good stretching exercise. It takes about 10 minutes: I begin with the ankles and the legs. I stretch ten seconds per ankles and legs gently. Then I move my hips: ten rotation movements on the left and on the right, my chest and shoulder, and finally the neck: up and down, left and right. It’s not easy to run thirty minutes or more. During my effort I need to be concentrated, to think of my goal for the day and to try to keep the same rhythm during a long period of time. This sport is healthy for me because I can target all parts of my body: brain, heart, arms, lungs, abdominal muscles, back and legs. I always feel better after running. I have the sensation that my body has worked and my nerves are mellows. I can continue all the evening serenely and I don’t forget to drink water (the body looses a lot of water during any extreme exercise so I have to drink water to recover the liquid in my body.

Contact with nature
The best way to run is to go in a park or in a forest. I’m used to running in a park and this is where I spend most of my time. I want to be in contact with the nature and appreciate the moment without cars, buses, trucks or traffic jams. Manchester city offers a lot of parks and green areas to practice a sport. I like to run at Platt Fields Park that is a large park located between Fallowfield and Rusholme. There are lots of running paths, a lake, green fields and some places to practise a sport like tennis, or football. It’s the best place to enjoy your running.
Trying to run in a city can be frustrating and trying to dodge buses, people and traffic can be dangerous and far from relaxing, which is why I choose to enjoy my run in the peace and quiet of a park.

Running essential
Have you chosen to take up running but require help on choosing the correct equipment to make your experience more enjoyable? In this chapter we will discuss the key essentials from wearing the correct foot ware and socks to watches and other motivation and tracking aids.

Running shoes
The best way to keep you in a good health is to have running shoes. The particularity of this item is that there is shock absorption. We need this technology to help our back and knees, because the impact in our back or knees can be dangerous for our health. Everybody runs differently and any good running shop will help you choose the correct sports trainer to help decrease stress on your limbs and maximise your pleasure.

Running socks
It’s a product which helps you to avoid the blisters. The difference between a normal and a running sock is that lets you drier and has cushioning in the heels and toes areas – where the majority of stress builds up whilst running.

Watches
There any many different watches on the market to aid you in either reaching your targets or monitoring your activity. A good watch will display the distance run, calories burnt, journey taken and will also allow you to plot this onto a map on your computer. I use a running watch to help me monitor my progress and beat my previous running times!

Sport shorts and shirts
Like the running socks, some brands suggest technological clothes. A new microfiber polyester product can help you stay dry and move more freely. Or you have also some items which help your body for the bloodstream. This technology is also used for all kind of sports.
 
Runner’s bottle
Perhaps the most important part of your run is keeping hydrated. In terms of endurance, there’s always a point when the lungs are burning and fatigue sets in, that’s when it’s vital that I have the carbohydrates I need to power through the pain.

Other items
You can add a footpad (which works with your technological watch for the pulse, the calories and so on), a led head torch, and energy supplements.

 
The ten best places I run….

In Manchester there are lots of parks where we can run. Here are some of them:

Heaton Park, Prestwich
This is Manchester’s largest park. It measures six hundreds and fifty acres and it’s situated about four miles north of the city centre. Buses and Metrolink Tram deserve until Heaton Park, and there is also car parking and disable car parking.

Albert Park, Salford
Albert Park is situated in Salford’s city closed to Manchester. It includes facilities as : different area’s games, children’s play area, a bowling green, and many other facilities.

Debdale Park, Gorton
This park is situated in Gorton, to the east Manchester. It’s quite a large park where there is well-maintained play area, tennis courts, a skateboard area and flower beds with beautiful roses.

Crowcroft Park
The park is located three miles south of Manchester city centre (south of the Longsight – Levenshulme boarder). The Park offers facilities for all the family as: two multisport areas, a basketball training court, and roller skating and skateboard ramp and children’s play area.

Philips Park
Situated in East Manchester next to the City of Manchester stadium, the park is provides a range of facilities. The Medlock River runs through the park, providing a rich habitat for the wildlife. The park is accessible for the disable people and can be easily reached by public transport from the city centre.

Wythenshawe Park, Manchester
This park is situated five miles south from Manchester city centre and is accessible by public transport. It has two hundreds and fifty acres of parkland, which there are playground, football pitches, tennis court and bowling greens.

Boggart Hole Clough Park
Situated in Moston, North Manchester, Boggart Hole Clough Park is a beautiful heaven with wooded areas and natural valleys. There is many facilities available at Boggart Hole Clough as football pitches, tennis and basketball courts, a bowling green, cross country running and cycling and an athletics track. The park is accessible by bus or by car

Birchfields Park, Rusholme
Located in Rusholme (Birchfield Road and Dickenson Road), Birchfields Park has been recently transformed to create a new children’s play area, new sports area, a skateboarding facility.

Until another time…

Nadjib x