A few years ago, I contributed an essay to a book about running. It was called Die Philosophie des Laufens (The Philosophie of Running) and published by Mairisch, a small independent press with excellent taste and the kind of literary courage that larger houses often like to claim for themselves.
There’s something mildly absurd about modern running tech. Every brand talks about AI now. Smart coaching, predictive training plans, readiness scores, recovery scores, stress scores, you name it. My watch apparently knows my future. It just doesn’t know what happened five minutes ago.
Today is January 1st. Not a good day for looking back on the year that has just ended. I’ve already spent a lot of time doing that — revisiting what I experienced, the successes and the wounds, the progress and the setbacks, taking a closer look at encounters and goodbyes, taking stock. Today, I don’t want to do it again.
A while ago, a friend of mine told me she wanted to start running – and asked if I had any tips. That got me thinking: wait, didn’t I write something about that ages ago? And yes, I did. Ten years ago, to be exact. Back then, I had just gone through the ups and downs of learning how to run – the excitement, the injuries, the first few kilometers that felt like marathons. So I wrote down what had helped me. Now that question from my friend gave me a great excuse to take another look: How much of it still holds up today? What would I change, knowing what I know now? Here’s the result: ten very personal tips for beginners – tried, tested, updated, and translated into English.
In October last year, when my Achilles tendon had finally made its opinion known, I found myself in a park in Cologne. I wasn’t running. I was jogging, slowly, with my eyes covered and one hand lightly resting on the arm of someone guiding me. We were part of a workshop for sighted running guides—learning how to help blind and visually impaired runners move safely, confidently, freely. It was humbling. I was there to learn how to guide. But at that moment, I needed guidance myself.