How many of you are like me and hate running?  Running is just one of those things that either you love or you hate. There is not a single person who just kind of likes to run. When I got into Crossfit I didn’t expect there to be running. Boy was I surprised when we had to run laps, run sprints, run…run…run. Don’t get me wrong running isn’t a bad thing but it certainly is one of the harder things in a WOD. It is especially hard when running is at the end of a WOD. It is all I can do to keep my feet moving and not just sit down in the middle of the road.

There are so many benefits to running and CrossFit. Now for some of you, you are reading this with your head in your hands because you were hoping that I would tell you running wasn’t necessary. Sorry honey but it is!

One of the most important reasons for running is for cardiovascular health. Cardio what? Cardiovascular health; in other words your heart. If you look across the board you will see that it’s not just Crossfit that adds in cardio to their regime. Most forms of training include some kind of cardio which is incredibly beneficial to having a healthy heart! And who doesn’t want a healthy heart? I mean we all need it to be able to do all those lifts in the next WOD. For those of us on a weight loss journey, having a healthy heart is extremely important!

Now for some of you, you are saying, “Umm excuse me but I love to run! So how does Crossfit help me with my running?” Good question! Despite my despise of running, I do run 5ks from time to time. Let me be the first to say, doing kettle bell carry runs, sandbag runs, and medball runs increased my stamina and helped me gain new PR times. Crazy right? Here is the thing, when you resistance train or weight train then when you don’t have the added weight or resistance, your speed and time will increase!

For me, I had been running only when I was in the box for several months. I got asked to run a 5k and I thought to myself, “There is no way! I haven’t been training for it. I will be way too slow.” Regardless of my thoughts, I got out there and ran. Sure enough, I had way more stamina that I imagined and I got a new PR by a whole minute!

So regardless if you love running or you pray you never have to run again, running is so very beneficial! I am right there with you hoping that there won’t be running in the next WOD but we got this! We are stronger than our minds allow us to believe! Have a race against yourself! See how hard and fast you can push yourself! And just be glad that you aren’t doing burpees!