Feeling Self Conscious

Thanks everyone.    I feel a bit better now reading all your posts.  I enjoy running so much and it makes me feel really good so I am going to force myself to just not care what I look like and get out there and do it.

Am really enjoying the Parkruns so that's a start for me with regard to running in front of others.

I'm new ish to running and started off not far short of 19st. I'm now under 17 and dropping, and have done two half marathons.

I started running after a disparaging comment about my weight from someone I didn't know from Adam. I used him as the motivation to train harder. I wanted to see his face at the end of the race so I could stick two fingers up at him.

Worked for me. I used to care what people thought about me running but not now. They can all sod off. I acknowledge everyone I meet, walkers, runners, dog walkers, the lot. Nearly always get a nod or hello. It's an ego boost I like

Good for you Steve.  Well done on losing weight too and to everyone else here who has lost weight as well, you are all doing great.

I love your way of thinking!  One day I hope I will be able to think like that.

It took a while because I'm not the most confident of people. Gym helped but I felt I had to bite the bullet as my first half was multi terrain, and you can't train for that properly on a treadmill!!
There were people a lot bigger and less fit than me running it too!

When I started running, I only ran at night because I was self-conscious as I'm not the most elegant runner. Then I joined a club and realised that everyone runs differently anyway.

The way I see it is - how many runners do you see and take the mick out of? For me, that figure is a big zero and if I don't, then probably nobody else does.