I'm really bad at running. I've hated it for most of my life. In jr. high and high school PE when they'd make us run, I'd try my best to get out of it (asthma was a great excuse usually). When I couldn't get out of it, I just despised it. Everything hurt, particularly my lungs, and it made me feel generally ill. This was because I was so incredibly out of shape, and looking back, I don't see why my PE teachers thought they had any business pushing someone so out of shape clearly past their physical limits . . . and then to be graded on it! The horror!

Fast forward many years, and all of a sudden all of my friends are running . . . after the knee surgeries, I had to keep exercising beyond PT otherwise the knee hurt, so I took up things like hiking and aerobics. I tried running, it hurt, so I gave up. But peer pressure and the desire to get into better shape kept making me try, but then it hurt and I sucked, so I quit. Then after I took up cycling (the best thing ever), I got the tri bug. So I pushed my way through a 5k, figuring if it didn't kill me I'd do a sprint tri. Well I'm obviously still here, so when it came time to train for the tri, I took it really easy, got myself a heart rate monitor, and eased myself into running. By increasing distance very slowly and keeping the heart rate down I found I actually enjoyed running. I still suck, I can only dream of an 11 minute mile, but I like going out to the parks and running, it's very peaceful and relaxing. There's something liberating about just tying up your shoes and going. No gear, no equipment, just you and the road (or path).

Ok, so my whole point is, if you don't like it, don't do it. My example is skiing. I've tried and tried, but I just don't like it. Again, peer pressure. Everyone I know skis or rides, and it's a major damper on the winter social life if you don't. I've come to terms with the fact that I am terrified of being on a steep (or not so steep for that matter) mountainside covered in snow with long slippery skis attached to my feet. So when the friends are organzing a mountain weekend, I come along and bring my snowshoes instead. (And when they ask why I'm scared of skiing, I ask them why they are scared of going more than 30 mph down a hill on their bike, and that shuts them up fast ).

So to sum up my long rambling post here, I agree with those here who've said that running is defnitely harder for some than others. And life is short: if you don't enjoy something, spend your precious time doing something else you do enjoy.