Peptan Runners: Learning to love running | Amanda

AMANDA CAZOTTI, SALES ASSISTANT AT ROUSSELOT BRAZIL:

Learning to love running

‘Running first came into my life when I was a kid. But I hated it! The reason was simple: every morning of December 31^st, the São Silvestre race was on TV, which meant no cartoons! The result was that I grew up thinking that running was boring and useless.

In 2018, the Peptan Runners program started. I told myself I’d never get into anything like that, but at the insistence of a friend and co-worker, called Rafaela, I ended up signing up. At first, I was nervous about running on the street: it felt like the stupidest thing I’d ever done. But that changed after I started out on my first run.

When I crossed the finish line…

It was on a Sunday in November 2018. The challenge: 5km in Campinas. When I woke up at 6 am, my only thought was, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this, I need to go back to sleep!’ I got up anyway, and when I arrived at the starting point and saw how excited everyone was, despite the early hour – part of me wanted to run away! When the race started, I ended up walking a lot, which made me angry at myself: I thought I’d never run again. But when it was over and I crossed the finish line, I was so happy I wanted more!

The Peptan Runners program has brought benefits to everyone: it encourages us all to be physically active, as well as meet people from other departments. Personally, it has given me a taste for a sport that I said I would never engage in, the drive to train and socialize with friends from work, a love of collecting medals, and an all-round feeling of well-being.’