Why I believe Every Move Counts towards better health and wellbeing

I have no doubt we were born to move and that the way to keep healthy is by being active every day. Being active is my priority every day. Even if I feel tired I know that moving will make me feel better and it will have a big impact on my daily happiness.

I’ve always loved being active, also competing in some sports to challenge myself. I’ve skied (Alpine skiing), swum, run, cycled, sailed, played basketball… Now I have a very busy life it is a challenge to fit sport into my day. My perfect day starts early in the morning before the sun rises. I often take my dog to a nearby mountain or have a road cycling session with some colleagues at the weekend. During my work days I’ll take the opportunity to stretch or do yoga to have active breaks. Every Move Counts and we have lots of opportunities to enjoy some movement.

I also love running. Why do I love running? Because it is the easiest way to be active every day. It’s easy to keep running when you are travelling and it also gives you special sightseeing experiences when you visit new places. Simply putting your running shoes and some running clothes in your luggage will guarantee your active time.

Distance running or sprints? Distance for me. I’m in love with running marathons (up to 5 a year before COVID-19), but our bodies also need different ways of training and you must combine running fast with running long and even walking. The European Mile is, in my case, a new challenge to see if I can go back to a fast pace.

A mile (1.6 km) is a perfect distance for occasional runners and for people who are not used to running to get a feel for athletics or to get in shape. 

On the other hand, the mile is a hard challenge for elite athletes. It falls somewhere between a fast race and an endurance one. It can consume all the body’s energy by being an intense workout over a short period of time. An elite athlete can run a mile in less than 4 minutes nowadays. They have to calculate their pace well to get to the finish line first. In my opinion it is much easier to run 100m at full speed or run 5000m/10000m/a marathon in terms of deciding the pace.

But for the European Mile, of course we are not going to behave like elite athletes!! This is more about having fun during our Mile.

Why don’t we start by running one mile three times a week? I would like you to challenge your friends and contacts on a huge Twitter challenge starting from now. No matter whether you are a casual runner or a more competitive one, you can also challenge me at @AndreuRDemidoff 

P.S. Don’t tell anyone! It seems we are going back to running marathons after summer. If possible, I’m planning to run Chicago Marathon and Boston Marathon in a row on 10 and 11 October 2021. Keep fingers crossed!!

If you run a lot of miles like Andreu - or even just one mile a week - you can donate them in support of the Daily Mile Foundation here.