How You Feel on Your First Run in GIFs

Stage 1: Preparation (and Potential Overconfidence)

Image Source: Giphy

As you envision what your first run will be like, everything starts out pretty positive. "I know how to walk! This is just like fast walking, right? Just move forward. This is gonna be cake. Everyone runs."

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Stage 2: Suiting Up

Image Source: Giphy

You lace up and get ready. You're feeling like a superstar athlete with these sweet new running shoes. "Get at me, run! I'm gonna crush you!"

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Stage 3: Optimism

Image Source: New Line Cinema

You embark on the new journey, in your neighborhood, park, beach, or trail. You're feeling so amazing.

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Image Source: Netflix

"THIS IS GREAT. I'M GOING SO FAST!" you think, as the rush of being an amazing athlete and embracing the glory of the great outdoors starts to hit you.

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Stage 4: Not Pacing Yourself

Image Source: Warner Bros.

The excitement of this new activity fuses with the overconfidence and leads to a little bit of overexertion. This does not end well, but we don't know that yet. So you keep running at a pace your body certainly cannot maintain.

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Stage 5: Lungs. On. Fire.

Image Source: Warner Bros.

Minor caveat: lungs unprepared, can't breathe. Why do lungs stop working when you need them most?!

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Stage 6: Surprise, Shock

Image Source: NBC

Your first "wait, what?" moment just happened (see: Stage 5, Lungs). "Why am I so exhausted, so soon? I thought I was more fit than this. This is NOT what I signed up for."

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Stage 7: Psyching Yourself Up

Image Source: Universal Pictures

To draw up some motivation, you pretend you're running from something . . . like terrible monsters.

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Image Source: Walt Disney Studios

. . . or explosions!

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Image Source: Giphy

. . . or you envision that you're running toward something. Whatever works, right?

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Stage 8: Actually Pacing Yourself

Image Source: New Line Cinema

The second wind comes to you (or is forced upon you), but you're taking it slow. It feels a lot better this way! Niiiice and easy.

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Stage 9: Other Runner Envy

Image Source: NBC

You then see some lean-bodied superhumans gliding past you at a remarkable pace. "What the heck!? How are those guys going so fast? ARE THEIR BODIES BIONIC? These people are not real."

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Stage 10: Your First Cramp

Image Source: CBC

Or shin splint, or jammed toe, or rolled ankle — whatever it might be, something hurts. You weren't prepared for this!

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Image Source: Viacom

RUNNER DOWN!

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Image Source: Lionsgate

You're not being a baby; this is basically war! And to think you thought it was "exercise"!

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Stage 11: Fear

Image Source: Lionsgate

You realize that running is actually not fitness — it's the Hunger Games. How long were you supposed to run today? Where is your car? Where is your home? What year is it? ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE IT OUT ALIVE?

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Image Source: The CW

You start to feel a little overwhelmed . . .

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Image Source: Giphy

And you still can't really breathe . . .

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Stage 12: Anger

Image Source: Giphy

Your body is like, "What the heck??? I thought you liked me?"

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Image Source: Warner Bros.

"Where is the runner's high? Is runner's frustration a thing? It is for me!"

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Stage 13: Uncontrollable Thirst

Image Source: Giphy

The thirst is real. You have NEVER been SO THIRSTY in your ENTIRE. LIFE. You douse yourself in water like you're an NFL coach with a gatorade cooler, as you contemplate whether you're really THAT thirsty or if you just needed a break to drink some water. Or tie your shoes. Or change your music. Or take an Instagram photo of your #firstrun.

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Stage 14: Fatigue

Image Source: Giphy

"Can someone just take me home?"

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Stage 15: The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Acceptance)

Image Source: Warner Bros.

You suddenly realize how far you've gone, and how close you are to home/your car. IT'S HAPPENING.

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Stage 16: The Finish Line

Image Source: The Weinstein Company

You made it! Your first run! You crushed it! THE EUPHORIA IS REAL!

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Stage 17: Feels

Image Source: Paramount Pictures

It gets a little emotional; you just went through a seriously intense journey. With yourself. And your sweet running shoes. Is this runner's high? But also, you're sore, and you're tired, and you REALLY want a burrito.

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Stage 18: Physical Demise

Image Source: Giphy

Your body was unprepared for that, and now you're suffering the consequences.

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Stage 19: Insatiable Hunger

Image Source: ABC

Speaking of burritos . . . you want ALL THE FOODS. You're a human vacuum, but don't worry, you've earned it.

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