How to Start Running

(1) Actually it does matter how and where (relative to your body) you land your foot. Contrary to the article, many people do need to fix their "natural" form and/or get shoes that help them avoid pronation, both to avoid injury and to increase the enjoyment that will help them stick with it.

(2) Similarly, the article's advice about stretching is way out of date. It's now consensus that static stretching can not only reduce performance but increase chance of injury. The author weakly hints at some of this, but never actually recommends against static stretching like most would.

(3) Lastly, there's a pervasive assumption bordering on encouragement of people wearing headphones while they run. I realize there's a lot of controversy about this, but a responsible author would at least have mentioned that it's a safety issue as well as an aesthetic one. If you run all alone where there's no traffic - including pedestrian traffic - do whatever you want, but if you're running in crowded times or places it's irresponsible to deafen yourself. I've know runners who have both been injured and have caused injury to others because of this, so I'm not inclined to let that pass.

I'm sure many people could follow this author's advice and be fine, especially if they're young enough and slim enough that they've never had to overcome the barriers that face older/heavier runners. Good for her and good for them, but that doesn't mean her experience can or should be generalized to everyone. There are better sources. Just search for "beginner running advice" and pick anything, especially one of the articles from Runner's World. With all that was already out there - it's practically an industry - this one just doesn't cut it.

For a good fraction of the population, running is fucking awful.

Some commentary though -

When I started running, it would have been very useful to have it drilled in to me that all "running" is not equal, and doesn't have to be at a fast clip, until that makes sense. Of course running 26 miles seems crazy based on what it feels like to "run" a mile when you're untrained and trying to go fast. Yes, that guide starts out suggesting a run/walk routine - however I think it would do new runners much service to explain what kind of paces there are, what they feel like, and why most of your running should be done at an easy one.

> First pick a race.

Why?! It really bugs me that so much of current running culture seems to be about earning that 13.1/26.2 sticker for your car, or getting that "Finisher" t-shirt. Certainly, completing races and achieving goals in general benefits our psyche and sense of accomplishment.

But running can be so much more than a sequence of training runs leading up to the all important race. Runs should be enjoyed. To me, one of the secrets of running, or at least - something that takes time to learn - is that running becomes much more enjoyable with experience, and you may have to put in some grind time to get there. When running 3 miles leaves you feeling completely wiped, the "runners' high" seems alien and unimaginable. As you get more experienced, AND learn to pace yourself, 3 miles seems short, and you probably won't feel into the groove until you're at least 1-2 miles in. When you have the fitness to casually run 5 miles through the park or on your favorite trail and feel good afterward - THAT's where running really starts to add balance and enjoyment to your day, imho.

When you've leveled up a bit, running becomes personal time, meditative, and leaves you refreshed. While people may discover this on their own - encouraging the mindset of, "Pick a distance, plop down some money for a bib, and train" - seems to encourage people to treat running as a means to an end, where the end (the race) just means it is time to pick a new goal (longer race, better time.)

Why not suggest people find a beautiful trail within an hour of where they live, that would take them a few hours to hike, and then run until they can experience the joy of gliding through that trail in a fraction of the time?

There's a lot of great information in that article, but I suppose I feel like it falls in to the trap of spending much more time on the "how" of running - how to pick a training plan, what shoes and socks to buy, how to eat, how to avoid injury, etc... - and not enough time on why it's worth it to put in all that work. Other than for the likes you'll get when you make your half-marathon completed Facebook post.

I've wasted a lot of money thinking this way. Unless you're cash-strapped and it meant a lot buying that ticket/software/tool/book/etc, you just shrug it off and move to the next target. Money doesn't buy discipline. YMMV.