Running though is a great way to keep fit but is recommended you keep away from running on concrete and stick to grassy areas. This is not always possible so if you are going to run on concrete, limit your runs to a couple of times a week and wear very good running shoes which will limit the impact on your knees.

Turning to running as a way to get fit comes to people’s minds, they give it a go and many give up as they have not given it time to develop. For starters, many people who take up running have not done much else in the way of fitness apart from the odd fitness class. The movement your legs, hips, ankles and feet all move takes time for your body to get used to.

When people do begin to run, its very common for the individual to try and run a mile or more in one go. The runner gets to a few hundred yards and it hits them and begin to get out of breath, knees go a little wobbly and feel like they need to walk but still attempt to push themselves further.

If a new runner thinks about it logically, they would see that building up the distance in parts will be much more beneficial . This is called interval training and boils down to warming up which we all should do then jogging for a few hundred years until you can feel yourself getting to a point you need to slow down. Then, walk briskly for several hundred yards until you have your breath back, then jog again. You keep doing this until you, overtime can run significantly longer and find it easier. Your muscles will become used to the motions with your lung capacity becoming larger making it easier to breath while running.

Running will improve your fitness so other sports can be taken up much easier such as tennis, squash, swimming either in public pools or a large above ground swimming pools down to more intense sports such h as skiing and snowboarding.

And the best finisher was Matt Tegenkamp.

Barely.

Tegenkamp closed with a 53.47-second last lap to win in 13 minutes, 20.57 seconds, barely outkicking Chris Solinsky, second in 13:20.82.

Evan Jager (13:22.18) was third. All three run for Oregon Track Club Elite and are based at the Nike campus in suburban Portland.

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