Anna Sitar: How to Build Running Confidence | Start Before You Feel Ready!

How do you actually build running confidence? This week on The Runna Podcast, Coach Ben sat down with content creator, Anna Sitar, to discuss her journey from beginner runner to tackling marathon training for the World Major Marathon in New York back in November. Anna didn’t grow up a ‘runner'. She started in the pool, signed up for a sprint triathlon on a whim, and soon found herself standing on the start line of her first marathon in Honolulu. What started as a goal to simply finish, became a deeper commitment to training, performance, and proving she was capable of more than she thought. Ahead of her marathon in New York, Anna reflected on the importance of pushing herself to do hard things before she feels ready, and navigating doubt, discomfort, and running motivation along the way. Highlights Include: 🧠 The Confidence Trap: Why you don’t need to feel ‘ready’ to start running 🏙 London Marathon Lessons: Surviving the ‘bonk’ and building resilience 🎯 Training for NYC: How to balance ambition, fear, and fun during marathon training Whether you’re training for your first 5K or chasing big running goals, this episode is full of inspiration to keep you showing up, one run at a time. 🎧 Subscribe for new episodes every Friday 🆓 Try Runna FREE for 2 weeks → Code: PODCAST25 👉 https://web.runna.com/redeem?code=POD... 📱 Follow for more running content: Instagram → @runna TikTok → @runna 📺 Watch more episodes → ‪@therunnapodcast‬ ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Who is Anna Sitar? 01:10 Building confidence through sports 03:30 Swimming vs Running: Transferable skills 05:20 Recovering from ACL Injury & Zumba 07:30 Triathlon Training for beginners 09:50 Open-water swimming fears 12:30 Falling in love with running 14:45 Signing up for a marathon with zero experience 17:10 Honolulu Marathon: The first runner’s high 20:30 Intuitive training vs structured plans 23:00 London Marathon: Hitting the wall (The Bonk) 27:30 Running for fun vs performance 31:30 Managing Race Day Nerves & Ambition 35:00 Beginner Running Tips (What she wish she knew) 38:30 Running Motivation vs Discipline 41:00 Dream race & future running goals #AnnaSitar #MarathonTraining #RunningMotivation #NYCMarathon #TheRunnaPodcast #RunningConfidence