# How running saved me from boozy lunches and obesity



## Northerner (Aug 14, 2017)

When the Observer columnist first went out for a run he hobbled home, only managing 200 metres. Four years later, running is a liberation ...

Four years ago, I put on what I used to call my gym kit and went for my first run in decades. Two hundred metres in, pain shot through my ample, but I liked to think, still manly physique. It was as if a sniper had taken out my legs. Abandoning all thought of fitness, I hobbled home, wincing with every step.

One should try to grow old honestly. And for middle-aged men that includes facing up to self-delusions. For anyone brought up in the journalistic culture of the late 20th century, the greatest delusions were about health. All kinds of subconscious diversion strategies clicked in whenever it was suggested that perhaps we should think about leaving the pub occasionally and taking some exercise.

Then, and indeed now, if a middle-aged man announces he is off for a boozy lunch, he is highly unlikely to say to himself: “But I must be careful. What about my liver? What about my heart?” He is even more unlikely to hear his beery friends say the same. They, too, do not want the thought to gain currency that boozing and gluttony may be dangerous.

When you announce you are taking up running, however, your friends turn into health freaks. “No, Nick,” they cry. “Think of the dangers. For God’s sake man THINK OF YOUR KNEES!”

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/14/running-liberation-nick-cohen-fitness

Good article


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## Chris Hobson (Aug 15, 2017)

The article was interesting for me because I was never so badly out of shape that starting out would feel like climbing a mountain. I can only try to imagine how hard it must be for anyone who is really unfit to get started. Had I been a fatty, I wouldn't have been bothered about what people thought about me if they saw me out running but that is just me. My wife Liz did all of her early efforts indoors on the treadmill. She did this until she could run a virtual mile and then started run-walking outdoors. I think that the really out of shape people are more likely to inspire others to give it a try due to the sense that, well if they can do it so can I. It being the Guardian it would appear that it is impossible to have an article on any subject whatsoever without having a pop at Donald Trump in the midst of it but otherwise an interesting take on getting the running bug.


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