A Body Utterly Lacking Muscles for Running

What I realized when I started running was, “I’m actually terrible at running.”

On my first day, I could only run about 30 meters. I thought, “This is about what I expected,” but when I told people, they were genuinely shocked, saying, “What, only that much!?” I guess it must be pretty bad. But it can’t be helped. I had consciously avoided any exercise that would build muscle for about 10 years. As I mentioned last time, this was because I had postural imbalances.

Years ago, dumbbell exercises became a trend. Being sensitive (or perhaps weak) to trends, I immediately bought 1-kilogram dumbbells and diligently tried to build muscle by following a book. My muscles started to show faintly, but at the same time, I began to feel pain in my left shoulder. That’s when I realized: if you train with a misaligned body, you’ll only make the misalignment worse and more rigid.

Since then, I’ve completely avoided any training until my imbalances improved, aiming only for a supple body. The result is a body that utterly lacks the muscles needed for running.

My Skin's Firmness, Tone, and Clarity Have Returned!

Starting from such a low level regarding running, or perhaps precisely because of it, the distance I could run increased remarkably with each session. Yesterday I could only reach this utility pole, but today I made it to this corner. It’s progress measured in inches, like an ant’s march, but oh, how enjoyable it is! As an adult, have I ever experienced such clear progress? Marathon running is currently a boom (which means I’ve once again fallen for a trend), but I suspect the ability to experience this is a major factor.

But, oh, how painful it is! From the moment I start running, it becomes difficult, and I want to stop. My body feels heavy, my heart pounds uncomfortably, and various muscles ache. I always think with every run, “The day I feel good while running might never come.” Yet, the reason I can continue is none other than the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment derived from the distance covered and the progress made compared to yesterday, which keeps my motivation going.

That’s not all. It turns out that running is actually good for beauty! About a month after I started running, I noticed something while taking a bath: my skin was repelling water! The firmness that made my skin repel water had appeared precisely because my muscles had developed. I was so impressed with my own skin, exclaiming, “Wow!” and realizing anew, “So, skin’s firmness comes from being filled from within.” Furthermore, perhaps due to improved metabolism, my skin’s tone and clarity also improved. Running, in exchange for its pain and hardship, allows us to gain joy and beauty.


POLAR Sports Heart Rate Monitor RS200
This device measures heart rate, time, distance, laps, and more. It also functions as a stopwatch, alarm, data logger, and even calculates calories burned. As someone not very tech-savvy, I mainly use it for distance and lap times. However, since purchasing it, I can see my running distance at a glance, allowing me to run freely anywhere, and I can also track accurate lap times, which has significantly boosted my motivation.

A Renewed Resolve to Overcome Weak Points!

Around that time, I had managed to run about 4 kilometers, but another problem emerged simultaneously. I became excessively sleepy after jogging, I started craving carbohydrates intensely, leading to weight gain. And pain began to develop in my left hip bone and right ankle, my weak points.

The excessive sleepiness seemed to be a common experience, subsiding after two to three months, and the craving for carbohydrates was a natural sign that my body needed energy for running, which was a relief. However, the real issue lay with my two major weak points (though I have several others): my left hip bone and right ankle.

My regular chiropractor had also expressed concern about those areas and advised me to build muscle to compensate for my weak joints. But I naively assumed that running would naturally build muscle. Yet, I couldn’t run due to the pain, and without running, I couldn’t build muscle...

At this rate, not only would I miss the ultimate goal of this running feature—the New York City Half Marathon in August—but I would also miss the 10K marathon in June, which was scheduled as a warm-up race. While agonizing over this, something struck me: I decided to join a gym to build muscle. Frankly, I had absolutely no interest in building muscle at a gym and thought people who did were incomprehensible. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Alright, time to train!” With renewed determination, I decided to join a gym. This was four months after I started running... To be continued!