I like to think I’m a pretty fit guy. I work out at the gym a few days a week, I play tennis and basketball fairly often, and I’m on my feet at work. But there is one thing in the world of exercise that has long evaded me: the run.

Seemingly every week a new person in my life is all of a sudden into running. Whether it be  post-run Insta stories or the secret new language of ‘Strava’ (which I am still trying to decipher by the way), I seem to be surrounded by new running enthusiasts. When did this happen? I’m not sure. All I know is I have been left behind.

As much as I love sports and other forms of exercise, I dread the thought of running. It just seems boring and tiring with none of the fun and reward you get from other sports. But to see what all the hype is about, and push myself to try the form of exercise I dread most, this week I went for a run.

As I said, I have plenty of friends who run semi-regularly, so I was easily able to find someone to run with, which gave me the motivation I needed to actually do it. I got up bright and early on Sunday, got dressed in the best imitation of proper running gear that my limited wardrobe would allow, and met my mate at the running track. After a few stretches, we were off.

Now I’m going to be honest, this wasn’t a big run by any means. I did just about 2.5 kilometres, and while I have no real frame of reference, I am told that’s not too bad but nothing special.

So how was it? Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but honestly not that bad. I’m not going to start yelling praises for it from the rooftops or anything, but it was nowhere near as bad as I had imagined, and I did fall into a rhythm which made it a lot easier.

Did I enjoy it and would I do it again? While it wasn’t all that bad, it wasn’t fantastic either. I think if I was invited on a run by a friend in the future, I would certainly consider taking them up on their offer, but it’s not something I would go out of my way to organise.