There must be a hundred valid ways to get better. For me I really took my time and stayed pretty low milage for my first year. I made it through four seasons, learned how to stick with it in every kind of weather, and found myself committed to continuing long before challenging myself to do more.

Once I did feel ready to up the mileage just a little bit I signed up for a 10k and used that as my motivation to go harder. A few months later I signed up for a 10 Miler race. The next big goal was a half marathon about six months after that. I’ve been signing up for races ever since, and still get a thrill from every one of them.

Beyond signing up for races, other tips include: find people to run with, look online for beginner level training plans for each race, and always go easy on yourself. Make it a long term hobby by avoiding injury as much as possible. That means remembering to run slow more often than not, listen to your body when it starts to hurt, eat well, and get lots of rest.

Oh and smile! Apparently research shows you’ll enjoy your run more if you smile. Haha. (I’ve no idea if that’s legit. But do whatever you have to do to keep it fun.)

@EddieTee77 @davidalso I personally find signing up for a race very motivating. Maybe register for a 10k, and then follow a training plan? That will get you doing different kinds of training sessions.