Hey Reader,

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there!

📖 New on the blog

The First Month of Running is the Hardest. Here's How to Survive It.

The first 30 days of running can be rough — sore muscles, achy joints, a hunger you can't explain, and a serious need for naps. It's normal. Your body is adjusting.

Lisa Jhung put together 8 practical strategies to get you through the hardest stretch, from managing DOMS to why varying your routes matters more than you'd think.

She gave up. Then came back a year later.

Stacy is 43. A year before she became a runner, she was a smoker, a type 2 diabetic, and — in her own words — "extremely unhealthy." She'd see people out running and want what they had. So she downloaded None to Run.

Day 1 went badly.

"I couldn't even run for 15 seconds. I was heavy, awkward, and my lungs were about to explode."

She restarted Week 1. Then again. Then twice more. After the fourth try, she gave up.

Here's the part of the story most people don't tell you: she didn't try again the next week. Or the next month. A full year went by.

Then something shifted. She decided she needed to prove to herself that she could do hard things. So she opened the app again and ran Day 1. Then Day 2. Then Week 2. And somewhere in there, she realized something surprising — she actually enjoyed it.

Today, Stacy runs a 5K almost every day. She's using our Half Marathon plan to train for her first half in October. And one more thing worth mentioning:

She quit smoking one month into her running journey.

Coach Mark's note:

If you've started and stopped before — once, twice, four times — Stacy's story is the one to hold onto. The restarts weren't the failure. They were the data. The win was deciding, a year later, that she could do hard things.

Progress slower than you think you need to. Be kind to yourself. The program will be here when you're ready.

Beginner-Friendly Club Kicked Off!

Last Wednesday, 8 runners joined me at High Park for our first session. We ran through the N2R ​warm-up, tackled Week 1 of the beginner plan, and had a great time.

Next run: Wednesday, May 13th. If you're in the Toronto area, come join us — all paces welcome, no experience needed.

Tool of the Week

Ever finish a run gasping and wonder, "Am I doing this wrong?"

The Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE) scale is the fix. It's a 1–10 way to gauge how hard a run feels — accounting for heat, sleep, stress, and everything pace can't see.

The one rule that matters: keep your running intervals at an RPE of 5 or lower. If they're creeping to 7 or 8, slow down. You're not failing — you're getting the dose right.

Save the graphic below and pull it up before your next run.

That's it for this week!

Progress slower than you think you need to. Be kind to yourself.

Cheers,

Coach Mark

P.S. Remember, you can get 20% off clothing and socks, and 10% off nutrition, hats, and clearance running shoes from Running Warehouse. Use code NONETORUN at checkout.

​NONE TO RUN​
Mark Kennedy, Founder of None to Run
​mark@nonetorun.com​

​​​​​