Musings on exercise from an #impsci psychologist. Thread. I was NOT an athlete growing up. I was always picked last for sports. I hated running around the gym in circles (always got a side stitch). I never scored a goal (despite playing soccer for years as a forward). My identity was not "athletic." Fast forward to my clinical psychology PhD (grueling). I read about the protective benefits of exercise and started running to train for a 10-miler (#BSR proud) in 2006. I started out running 1 min, walking 9 min in 10 min increments.