How it feels to go running 4 times per week for 200 days straight

I remember the day I started running with my father, we didn’t do anything intense on the first day but rather woke up early and went for a walk. We did this due to the reason that we wanted our body to get ready to this routine and not to begin things too rapidly and suddenly stop from exhaustion. We felt pretty good that day and continued twice per week with about 2.5 kilometer runs, which had short periods where we ran very fast. The first few times were not as difficult as expected and my perseverance and endurance grew exponentially. I didn’t start running for the usual reasons such as being fit or getting slimmer, but my aim was more to achieve good grading in my sports class in school. In school, we have a 12-minute run every single semester that is graded substantially. The first running exam that I had, took place 3 months after I began running with my father. Strangely however, I only achieved 9 points out of 15 in that semester, meaning I ran about 2400 meters. This wasn’t such a bad score(C+) but it also wasn’t what I expected. When winter kicked off, I already noticed my improvement when running multiple kilometers and enduring fast runs. Every Sunday we tackled a high intensity interval training where I had to run 10 x 400 meters with short breaks. In those short breaks we had just about enough time to replenish our energy and prepare us mentally for what was about to come. However, the time got faster every round, so 120 seconds, 115 seconds, 110 seconds, 105 seconds and 100 seconds. After 5 rounds the time we had to run grew again to 120 seconds so that we had a smooth finish we could look forward to when running intensely. After 2 weeks we always subtracted 5 seconds from each round to develop quicker and more effectively. Fast-forward to 5 months before my next run. I failed my test-run in January due to the fact that it was very difficult, and I was unable to resist the temptation to stop. Nevertheless, I didn’t give up, and I continued running even more that year. 2 Months prior to the run I had a small asthma attack and sat out for one session. As of that day I had to take additional medication and I quickly noticed how much I was held back by my lungs in my former runs. My father and I increased the amount of training per week and prepared for the next 12-minute run about 1 and a half months prior to the run. At that point, I was getting nervous about the exam but still kept my cool thanks to my chill father. During that exam, time went past really fast, and I only started noticing everything around me at the last round. I sprinted as fast as I could and successfully improved by 7 points in approximately 100 days by achieving 14 points altogether. Looking back, I’m extremely proud of myself because my father and me expected for me to achieve 12 or 13 points but not 14 points in one semester.

In summary, it is(still running for next exam) and was a difficult mental fight for me to adjust to a new weekly plan and start a sport that I was not really confronted with in the past. I recommend anybody to do this challenge because it is an amazing achievement and gives huge amount of happiness at the end of the run. Thank you very much for reading this article and if you have any improvements or other feedback for me please write them in the comments.